Goblin Prince
by achebe
Summary: Lily Potter's last wish was that Petunia Dursely would not take care of her son. Petunia agreed, and so she used the words Lily gave her to send the child somewhere else.
1. Wish

The last time Petunia Dursley sees her sister it's at their mother's funeral in May of 1980. They're both heavily pregnant, and though Petunia would rather not speak to her sister at all if she could avoid it, there's something about the way Lily looks, with her arm wrapped tightly around the protuberance of her stomach as she carefully approaches her at the dinner following the service.

"It was a beautiful service." Lily says.

Petunia, normally, would take offense at that, is Lily surprised that she is capable of throwing a classy event? But she's too tired. Her son has been kicking up a storm all morning, and she feels as if she might fall over, "It's nothing like what your people put on, I imagine." She says, and, despite her exhaustion, a little barb of insult finds its' way into her voice.

Lily smiles tiredly. There's exhaustion in her eyes, Petunia notes, and a part of her triumphs at this crack in her perfection. "Can we sit? I need to talk to you about something."

Just then the Hilberts, longtime friends of their family, make their way over to give their condolences. The two sisters smile politely and shake hands, bumping cheeks, the usual dance of civility. The banquet hall is almost empty now. Lily's husband sits alone at a table in the far corner, reading a paper with a look of befuddlement on his face. Vernon has gone into the kitchen to supervise the packing of any leftovers. Only one table of fellow mourners remains.

Dudley aims a vicious kick at Petunia's kidneys, and she winces, rubbing over her stomach, whispering soft murmurs of comfort until he quiets a little. "I suppose." She responds finally, taking the first seat she can, absurdly grateful for the relief.

Lily instantly takes the seat next to her, turning it so they face each other head on. "I've told you how the Wiz-" Petunia feels her eyes widen and she looks immediately to the final table. They're well out of earshot, but that doesn't mean – Lily sighs, "_my_ world is at war."

"So you've said." Petunia acknowledges. What barbarians she thinks, privately, this war has been going on since Lily was in school. Are there no laws or armies to take control?

Lily sighs softly, but continues, "There is every chance that James and I will be targeted. Very soon."

This causes Petunia some disbelief. Lily and _James_ are young, hardly out of school, how can they been anywhere near important enough to draw the attention of some crazed warlord? Well, she considers, probably it's just Lily feeling important again. It's just like Lily to try to make herself seem more important by inventing a sinister plot against her life.

Some part of Petunia knows that that isn't true. But that part was buried long ago.

"If the worst should happen," Lily continues on, her voice getting steadily more determined, "some people from my world may try to leave my son with you." Petunia's back goes straight instantly, and Dudley kicks in response, but she pays it no mind. If Lily thinks she's going to take in her _unnatural_ child – Lily continues speaking, "I've done everything I can to see that he won't be put with you. _But_," she stresses, reaching out to grab Petunia's hand, "but they may use your ignorance about my world against you."

"Lily!" Petunia says, aghast. She has no idea where to even begin.

"No. Tuney. Listen. I don't want my son placed in your house any more than you want to take him in. But you need to listen to me. And remember what I'm saying." Petunia breathes out hard, unconsciously tightening her hand around Lily's. "They'll leave him outside of your home. They'll be relying on our blood connection to protect him, and for that to work you must bring him inside of your own free will. You _must not_. Once you bring him into your home, even if it's only for a second, even if you know you don't want to keep him, you'll be signing an oath to take care of him." Lily's hands tighten around hers. "Promise me that you won't bring him in."

Petunia stares at her sister, terrified of the light in her eyes. She realizes for the first time, though she's heard Lily speak of the war effort before, that Lily honestly believes she won't see her son grow up. Dudley shifts inside her and the tiniest germ of sympathy lights in her chest. "What would you have me do instead?"

Lily breathes out something that sounds like relief, and releases her hand. She pulls a precisely folded piece of paper out of her pocket and hands it to her, "Read this aloud. Keep it somewhere safe. If the worst should happen, read it over him. Do not bring him inside to do so."

Petunia takes the paper, as her mind, so fresh from handling her mother's funeral, goes over what it would be like to do the same for Lily.

"Promise me Tuney." Lily says, eyes bright with unshed tears and a determination like nothing Petunia has ever seen in her.

Petunia fists her hand over the paper, probably creasing it. Her heart is beating hard.

"I promise."

Lily sighs again, clearly relieved, and stands. Petunia stands with her, reaches out and grabs her arm before she turns to go. Lily turns back, a clear question on her face. Petunia does not know why she stopped her, is unsure what she wants to say. She lets her hand drop, "Be careful."

Lily smiles, and it's small and watery, but still a smile, "I'll do my best."

She turns away then, heads towards her husband, who puts down the paper with something like relief. Petunia watches as Lily nods at whatever he says, and the two of them shift close together, his arm going around her small shoulders automatically. They leave like that, moving together.

The last thing Petunia Evans sees of her sister is her back.

It's over a year later that the worst finally does happen. Petunia opens her door on the morning of November 1st to find a wrapped bundle with a child in it. She bites back hard on a scream, reaching down automatically to gather the boy up, when Lily's remembered words stop her. Not even for a second Lily said. Not for a moment. Petunia lays the child back down, though it goes against her instincts to leave a child on the cold stoop. She goes back inside for the paper Lily had given her. She leaves the door open though, so she can keep half an eye on the toddler. Her nephew.

She finds the paper stuck between the pages of last year's diary, right where she'd left it, and she unfolds it as she makes her way back to the front door, crouching down carefully next to the boy. She smooths it out with trembling fingers, wondering what odd spell she will have to try to say in order to deal with this. To her relief, the words are all in English, penned elegantly with Lily's handwriting. It's still gibberish, but better than the pretend Latin she remembers from Lily's school books.

"I wish the Goblins would come and take you away. Right now." Petunia says. A sudden wind springs up, and a far off roll of thunder causes her to look towards the sky, unsure what she should do with the child if it begins to rain. When she looks back down in front of her, the boy is gone, making her gasp.

She folds the paper back up, fingers trembling so hard now she nearly rips it in two. She wonders where the boy has gone, what she's just done. Nothing, she comforts herself as she stands, she's done absolutely nothing except follow her sister's wishes. And she's glad she did. The last thing she needs is some unnatural boy in her very normal home. She nods once at herself, decisively, and heads to the kitchen to make her boys breakfast.

Far away in another land, a troop of goblins are shouting and calling out as they make their way to the throne room, where the Goblin King lounges sideways in his throne. "Another child?" He muses outloud, "What a busy year."

"A Wizard child sir King sir!" One goblin announces, causing Jareth to straighten abrubtly.

"Really?" He breathes, amazed. It has been a very long time since the Wizards last found the words. A _very_ long time. The goblins pass the boy up, hand over hand, and he accepts the bundle gratefully. Piercing green eyes peer up at him, obviously evaluating. He laughs in delight, leaning in to kiss the boy gently. "It has been an age since I have seen one with this amount of power." He begins to unwrap the blanket that someone had wrapped him in, and he finds a letter.

It's not addressed to him, instead the name Petunia is carefully scrawled across the front. The envelope is still sealed. He pops it opens easily. The note inside is written in the same ornate hand, and Jareth reads it with a raised eyebrow.

_Petunia Dursley,_

_My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I am afraid I must inform you of some terrible news. Your sister and her husband have been killed. I am unsure if your sister saw fit to inform you of the war our world is currently under. Please know that they died fighting for what they believed in, and in doing so, were able to secure a victory for our side that will insure no similar loss of life for quite some time. _

_As you can see, though James and Lily died, their son survives. Harry Potter is only a month older than your own son, and it was your sister's wish that the two boys would grow up together, away from the strife of our world. By taking him into your home you have agreed to care for him, and doing so will insure that not only the boy, but your family as well, will be protected by the strongest magical protections we can offer. _

_Do not fear, any attempt to remove the boy from you home will result in the breakdown of those protections, which will notify me and the rest of my friends, and we will come at once to your aid._

_When the boy is 11 he will receive the same offer as your sister once did, and attend Hogwarts School. You have my word that no wizards will try to contact you until that time._

_Thankfully yours,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

The signature was followed with a list of titles and awards that Jareth could not possibly have cared less about, and he let the letter drop. It was a masterful piece of intimidation, blackmail and manipulation. The information about the woman's son, a clear threat if you wanted to see it that way, the information about the agreement only included after the boy had been brought into the house. The even less subtle threat of an arrival of a team of wizards if anyone attempted to remove the boy. Even the appeal to her sister's final wish.

A trio of goblins peer at the baby over his shoulder, "Will anyone come for him?"

Jareth doubts it. Only one wizard ever even tried the Labyrinth, and he had given up before the helping hands. This letter seems to make it clear that no one will be coming for the child. Just to be sure he waves a hand over the boy, Harry, and a crystal appears in his hand. Through it he sees a woman, tall and thin, at a stove preparing breakfast. Her movements are fast and light, not one note of regret or hesitation. She will not come for the child, and she doesn't even need a crystal as a bribe. He rolls the crystal, and the view changes to an old man, clearly a wizard this time, power cloaked around him so close it's nearly visible. There are many objects of power around him, including a small glass ball that Jareth can see is meant to track the whereabouts of the child. Jareth sends a small surge of his power into the ball, and it transfers to the tracker, assuring the wizard will not be able to tell that the boy is not with his aunt.

That finished he rolls the ball again, and it vanishes. "No one will come." He stands, shifting Harry to his elbow. "Prepare the room next to mine."

The goblins who have been gamboling around in celebration of a new goblin brother freeze immediately. "The room for the heir?" One asks, sounding amazed.

Jareth smirks at them, "Yes. The wizard child shall be my heir. The Goblin Prince." The cheer that goes up is loud and excited. They break into song almost instantly. Harry shifts in Jareth's hold, and he moves to show the child his celebrating subjects. Harry stares for a moment, before he starts to laugh and clap along with their singing.

Jareth smiles wide, and the two join the dance together.


	2. Hogwarts

Harry was having an argument with some doors in the middle of the labyrinth when his mother's voice echoed around him.

"Harry James Potter. You're going to miss your birthday entirely at this rate."

Harry grinned, and waved goodbye to the doors as he turned in place, transporting himself instantly back to the castle. "Sorry mum. Right and Wrong were arguing about the answer again. Wrong still doesn't understand it."

Sarah snorted, leaning down to brush a bit of glitter off Harry's shoulder. "I doubt he ever will." She kissed him lightly on the forehead, "Go wash up, dinner is almost ready."

"And then presents?" Harry asked, bouncing a little.

"And then presents." Sarah agreed with a grin. Harry instantly went bounding off, clearly excited.

Dinner was full of Harry's favorites. Bogleaf salad, treacle tart. Ludo had collected some of the purple flowers from the Firey's forest that were perfect on top of the treacle, but that the Firey's tended to zealously protect. Sarah, Harry and Jareth ate at the usual high table in the dining hall while the goblins, Fireys and everyone else celebrated down below. Every so often one of their friends would drop a package off at the present table, and by the time the tart was all eaten Harry was practically squirming with the desire to jump headfirst into his pile.

"Alright Prince. Go ahead." Jareth said, with an amused and fond grin. Harry jumped on him with excitement, hugging him tight, before doing the same to Sarah.

"Thank you!"

He moved towards his present table eagerly. Most of the goblins didn't really understand the point of presents. He tended to get a lot of grass or strange looking rocks. A twig once in a while. Memorably when he'd turned nine, one of the goblins had tried to give him his front door.

Harry didn't particularly care about the quality of the presents. He just loved opening them all with his friends. This year was the same as the years before. Rocks and twigs from most of the goblins, a large rock from Ludo that rolled happily and practically seemed to purr when Harry nudged it. The Junk Gang had returned to him some of the things he'd thrown out this year, as they always did, but Harry laughed and hugged them tightly in thanks as he threw a shirt that had long ago grown too small for him over his shoulder. The Wiseman had given him a chicken fashioned into a hat that Harry immediately put on with a giggle. The insects gave him a length of spun bookworm-silk that he drew his fingers through gleefully. Sir Didymus gifted him with a tin sword – the only kind the fox carried – and Harry gleefully made a few slashes with it until Sarah took it back with a laugh. "Your father will give you some lessons later Harry."

There were a few final packages of grass, and a foot that bounced away as soon as he opened it from the Fireys. Harry laughed delightedly as the Firey it belonged to jumped up high, summersaulting to catch it with his empty ankle.

As soon as Harry opened his last gift a wild cheer went up from all the subjects of the Goblin Kingdom, and the music started instantly. Jareth held out his hand for Sarah, and the King and Queen gladly took the floor after their son, who was already dancing with two and a half Fireys.

oooooooooo

The party went well into the late evening, and so it was an exhausted but happy kingdom that awoke the following morning. It was one of the kitchen goblins that found the ornately addressed letter on the front stoop, and he quickly delivered it up to the dining room. Not one member of the royal family was a morning person, and no matter how much the goblins enjoyed the feeling of soaring through the air after a royal kick, a decree about mail had long since gone out. Nothing was so important that it couldn't wait for breakfast in Jareth's opinion.

Since the letter was carefully addressed to Harry Potter / Goblin Castle / Prince's Room / Below the goblin left it in front of the Prince's plate.

When the royal family finally managed to make it out of bed for breakfast, Harry found it waiting for him and he ripped it open even as he cracked open his breakfast cabbage.

On his first read-through, Harry mostly skimmed the words, still tired from his long night. But slowly the words pieced his fuzzy mind as he scooped the yolk from his cabbage. "Dad." He said, drawing Jareth's attention from his own breakfast, "It's the wizards."

Nothing could have stopped their happy breakfast more completely. Jareth snapped his fingers and the letter immediately appeared in his hand. He scanned it quickly and then more slowly, just as his son had.

"Well then." He twisted his hand and the letter moved over to Sarah, who read it slowly and intently the first time. "Are you sure that this is the path you wish to take? You owe these wizards nothing."

Harry bit his lower lip, looking at the second page of the letter, studying the things he would need for the coming school year. If he decided to go. "I don't know. It would – it would be good to learn how the wizards use magic." Jareth made a face at that, but didn't react otherwise. Harry continued, "And I would like to learn more about my parents. My birth parents I mean." Sarah and Jareth exchanged looks, and Harry felt the strange cold grip of guilt in his stomach. "Not that you guys aren't –"

Sarah reached over and placed a cool hand on Harry's arm. "No. We understand Harry. Don't apologize for that."

Harry breathed out gratefully, and continued, steadily getting more confident, "And if this Dumbledore person really does have some kind of plan for me, it's better to face it head on, isn't it?"

"One could also argue that if he does have a plan for you, you're safer here, where he can never touch you." Jareth said, clearly fighting to keep emotion out of his voice.

Harry met his eyes steadily, "But that's part of my point! How could we know that for sure? We don't know what these wizards know or how their magic works. And besides, maybe I can help the Above goblins." Jareth grimaced, the Above goblins were a particular worry of his. Many of his goblin subjects had elected to move Above. The kingdom had long ago grown beyond the need for any kind of currency. But these goblins had gained an odd interest in finances. They had found that humans did not welcome their appearance, and moved into the wizarding world.

The wizards had originally welcomed them with open arms, but over time the goblins had become more and more outcast in the society. They were, sadly, just as stubborn as their royal family, and refused to give up their place in wizarding society, no matter the indignities they had to suffer.

Sarah smiled, squeezing Harry's arm proudly. Jareth raised a single eyebrow, "You will have to be very careful."

Harry and Sarah clapped together excitedly, knowing that was Jareth's way of supporting Harry's decision.

ooooooooo

Harry was extremely excited on Tuesday morning. It was finally the day that Sarah had agreed to help him go shopping for his school supplies. The Goblins from Above had reported that Harry had three vaults under his family name in the Wizard Bank. They'd asked for a vial of Harry's blood so they could do a short ritual to call back his vault keys. The three tiny gold keys had made Harry really realize, for the first time, that he would really be leaving Below. For the first time in his memory he would be in the Above. It filled him with a kind of giddy trepidation.

Sarah came into his room with an odd outfit on. Instead of her usual flowing dresses she wore dark blue pants and a shirt with buttons down the front. Harry frowned at her. It looked like one of father's favorite shirts, except a lot smaller. It didn't flow around her body correctly, instead it was almost tight, more like a frock coat.

Sarah smiled at his confusion, "It's jeans and a blouse. It's what the non-magical people in the Above wear."

Harry blinked, but trusted Sarah's opinion. She'd only lived in the Below with him and Jareth for about three years. It was hard for him to remember that sometimes, it felt as if she'd always been a part of their family. Sarah was already considering his current outfit, "And you cannot wear that. I'll be arrested. Put on a pair of pants like mine."

Harry looked closely at Sarah's pants, reaching out to feel their texture. He blinked and his leather pants – like his father's – morphed into a smaller version of the same rough blue pants that Sarah was wearing. Jeans he supposed. Sarah laughed, leaning down to hug him tightly, "We're going to have to see about having your father screen us a few movies about Above, so that you know what you're talking about at school." Harry smiled back at her, not quite sure what she meant, but usually Sarah had good ideas. Sarah did one last look over his outfit, and nodded happily. "Well. Let's go then!"

They make their way to the mirror room, where Sarah reached out to press a hand against the cool glass. "Diagon Alley" she commanded, and instantly their surroundings melted away. When Sarah dropped her hand they were standing in the middle of a wide, busy alley, crowded with shops. Men and women in long robes moved in and out of odd stores, arguing cheerfully. And _loudly_. That was the first thing Harry noticed. Just how very loud everything was. It made his ears hurt a bit. Yes, the goblins could be loud, but usually only when celebrating. It seemed that these witches and wizards were loud just so that they could be heard over everyone else needing to be heard.

Sarah reached down for his hand, holding it tightly. Harry doesn't want to admit how much it comforted him, but he squeezed back tightly. "The bank first?" Sarah asked, just to confirm. Harry nodded, and they begin to head down the street. Harry couldn't stop looking around them. All of the shops looked fascinating. There was even one just for animals. It's only his own trepidation and Sarah's tight grip on his hand that stopped him from tearing off into all of them. The large white building that is Gringotts bank is massive and it would probably be intimidating if Harry didn't already know that it was run by Goblins.

They make their way up the wide marble stairs, and the pair of goblins by the door immediately snap to attention, bowing low as they open the massive doors for them. They don't use their titles, Jareth had insisted that if Harry went through with going Above, that no one was to know of their connection to the Goblin Kingdom. At least not until they had a better handle on what exactly Dumbledore wanted with him. Sarah thanked the goblins absent mindedly, and Harry winked at them and grinned as they tried to hide their joy of being thanked by the Queen and acknowledged by their Prince.

Once inside the bank they made their way to the withdrawal counter, nearly sending the goblin at the counter into fits of glee. They were quickly ushered into a cart and rode the contraption down hundreds of feet into the earth below London. They went to the lowest first, which was the vault of the Noble and Ancient Potters, it held a wealth of old furniture, some extremely dusty books, and a few swords and other odds and ends. Harry decided he would come back to look it over later, he wasn't sure which of the books would be most helpful, and couldn't know until he'd taken a few classes. He asked the goblin on the way out if maybe the goblins would mind writing up an inventory for the vault for him, and Griphook nearly exploded with his desire to get started right away. The second vault was a massive room, filled with gold silver and copper coins. Griphook showed Harry a ledger on the wall that told him exactly how much was in there and explained the wizarding currency. Harry, unused to needing any kind of money, found himself interested but not terribly attached to the large pile of gold. He was mostly amused at the illogical currency, that had definitely been developed by his goblin subjects!

The final vault was more of the same, but the room was smaller. Griphook explained that this one was his trust vault, meant to support him through school and pay his tuition. The larger vault was the entire value of the Potter fortune. Technically he wasn't supposed to access that one until he was 17, but the goblins, obviously, would not mind if he needed to dip into it for any reason. Griphook twisted his ear uncomfortably as he gave his assurances to Harry, and Harry understood that though the goblins would let him, the idea of it made them uncomfortable.

"Don't worry Griphook, I can't imagine I would ever need to use any more than this." He said, with a wave to indicate the amount in his trust vault, "Unless the tuition is much higher than I thought?"

Griphook looked relieved, and then guilty for being relieved, "Oh no Prince Harry, seven years of tuition is less than half. You will have much gold for whatever you wish!"

Harry and Sarah quickly swept some gold into their pouches and made their way back to the ground level. After they took a moment to say a heartfelt thank you and good bye to Griphook, causing him nearly to faint with joy, they exited back out onto the street. The first bunch of objects on his school supplies list were found quickly, though Harry did get a bit distracted by the apothecary, and it's wealth of ingredients, though the amount and variety of animal parts used made him a little queasy. They were prepared to spend some time in the pet store, looking for the perfect cat (neither of them really saw a need for the slow owl mail delivery system when they would mostly be using mirrors to communicate, and having a toad sounded strange) but almost as soon as they entered a large snowy owl immediately lighted on Harry's shoulder, and refused to be ushered aside. Harry, luckily, was just as smitten as the owl herself, and quickly paid for her, as Sarah smiled to herself, wondering at Jareth's reaction.

They practically camped out in the bookstore. Down in the goblin kingdom there were books of course – what else would the bookworms eat? – but nothing as informative as the wizarding books. Sarah found a shelf for Muggle parents – it had become clear as they walked up and down the alley that a Muggle was someone without magic – and Muggleborn children, and bought the whole line of introductory novels for Harry to read. Harry, meanwhile, found all his schoolbooks and then spent some time lost in the aisle devoted to magical music.

Sarah was honestly surprised that they could both walk with all their bags when exiting the store. Though there was only one stop left she made the decision to stop at a mirror – discretely - and send all the heavy bags through to Harry's room.

Their last shop was the wand shop, and it took a while, but Harry eventually walked out with a Holly and Phoenix feather wand, and a cold knot of worry in his gut.

That worry only got louder when someone finally noticed his scar. Immediately they were beset on all sides as people called out to him, greetings and tearful thanks. Neither of them knew what in the world was going on, and it was extremely unsettling to listen to the wizards fawn over him. They eventually escaped into an alley, and wasted no time using Sarah's compact to get back home.

ooooooo

The rest of the summer passed very fast. Sarah and Harry made frequent trips to the Above, hoping to get Harry more used to his surroundings. They spilt their time equally between the non magical and the magical world. It took Harry a long while to get used to the idea that animals could not talk. He'd originally thought Hedwig - the snowy owl they'd purchased - was just being shy. Sarah had to explain to him that in the Above, animals didn't talk. At least not with English. But if you listened closely they made their wishes clear.

That was certainly true with Hedwig. She and Jareth had developed an instant bond that seemed to be based around always wanting to know where Harry was and if he was getting into trouble. Multiple times over the summer Harry had been attempting to scale a wall in the labyrinth or play hopscotch over the boulders that made a bridge and the two of them would fly down as owls and start hooting angrily. Hedwig would screech and spread her wings as wide as she could and use them to blow air directly into Harry's face until he slid off the wall or went back to the safety of the ground around the swamp.

Jareth tended to watch from the sidelines, serene and amused in his barn owl form.

It was about a month before the start of term when Sarah finally found the answer to why they had been mobbed in the middle of Diagon. It seemed that there was more to the victory Harry had won as a baby than Dumbledore had explained. He was famous in the Wizarding World as the Boy-Who-Lived and his apparent defeat of the dark lord. The royal family pored over every account of that Halloween night that they could find, but there were still far too many questions.

How did anyone know that Harry had, in fact, been hit with any curse at all? Many of the texts referred to the fact that his house had been destroyed, so the scar on his forehead (the one that Jareth had healed and recently recreated for him) could have easily come from falling rubble. It seemed much more logical to them than the idea that a child somehow was able to survive a powerful curse that no one ever had before.

How had Voldemort found them? Multiple books made reference to the fact that the Potter family had successfully been in hiding for over a year, since before Harry had even been born! Why was it this last hiding place that had fallen?

What had happened to Voldemort? None of the books had referred to the dark wizard by his name, only strange epithets like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. They'd had to mirror call some of the Above goblins for an answer to that. The question of what had happened to Voldemort that night seemed like the most important of all the various questions Harry had about his new world. Sadly it was the only one that had absolutely no answer.

After yet another family research session that ended only in frustration Jareth threw down the book he was reading, clearly sulking. Sarah and Harry traded glances. He frowned heavily at the ceiling for a long moment before waving his hand. Instantly the ceiling faded, to be replaced with the grotesque image of a man who was no longer entirely human. He had slit pupils and red eyes. His nose was barely a bump on his face, ending with two breathing slits instead of nostrils. He was deathly pale and the smirk on his frozen face spoke of a deep malevolence. Harry and Sarah shuddered as they looked at him, though they both knew that a still image meant the subject was dead.

"Is that him?" Sarah asked, slipping sideways in her armchair so she could peer up at the ceiling better. Harry and Jareth were already sprawled across the arms of their chairs as usual.

Jareth was frowning at the image, brow heavy and creased, "Yes. As he appears in the minds of those who dream of him."

Harry made a short sound, "Including me?"

Jareth nodded, he waved his fingers negligently and the image of the dark wizard disappeared, replaced with the vision of a pale red-headed woman, smiling brightly.

"Who's that?" Sarah asked. She was beautiful.

"My mother." Harry said, smiling at the image. Jareth had done this for him often before. Whenever Harry had questions about his parents Jareth had been happy to pull up images of the Potters, and even occasionally memories. When he'd been six or so Jareth had even been able to piece together hazy images of their wedding.

Sarah smiled softly, "You have her eyes."

Harry looked at the image, and found himself smiling a little, "She's really pretty. Right?"

Sarah smiled over at her adopted son, "Yes. She is."

Jareth waved his hand again, and the woman was replaced by a man with messy black hair and brown eyes. It struck them all immediately just how much the man looked like Harry. "James Potter." Jareth announced, unnecessarily.

"Wow." Sarah said. Jareth and Harry nodded in silent agreement.

Another glittery wave of Jareth's hand and the image was replaced again with a moving image of an old man in a cluttered office. Books and various odds and ends were crowded on every surface.

"Looks like the junkyard." Sarah said with a rueful smile.

Harry laughed, "Yeah, and isn't that the Wizeman's hat?" He asked, motioning to the bird next to the old man.

"Albus Dumbledore." Jareth said, with a small smirk.

"The man who dropped Harry off at his aunt's?" Sarah asked, surprised. Jareth dipped his head to confirm, "Can we keep this up?" She asked, studying the man as he poured over some documents on his desk, "Spying on that man may answer some of our questions. Of course if it is taxing for you love-"

Jareth frowned, studying the image. "It will be less so if I do it in a standard Below mirror. Harry, please go collect me some fine sand from outside the labyrinth, it is time you learned to make a true mirror anyway."

Harry shouted in excitement, he'd been begging for the opportunity to learn how to make mirrors for what felt like forever! He quickly made his way towards the city, stopping only to wait for Ludo and Hoggle.

ooooooo

For the final month of the semester their Dumbledore mirror worked perfectly. Jareth cautioned Harry that the mirror would probably only work Below, so he would have to leave it behind. They would, of course, contact him if anything interesting happened.

Mostly though, the mirror was rather boring. Dumbledore spent most of his time alone in his office, preparing for the new school year. Sarah and Harry were mostly in charge of monitoring the mirror. Bad things tended to happen when Jareth got too bored, and the goblins got too excited by being entrusted by their beloved royal family, and Harry found himself woken multiple times so the goblins could report that the old wizard man had snored _very loudly._ By the time September 1st rolled around Harry was more than ready to leave the boring mirror behind, even if he wasn't quite ready to be leaving Below.

Sarah and Jareth helped him pick out which robes to wear on the train. The carefully made sure that his trunk was packed so that he'd be able to get to everything easily. Sarah kept abruptly reaching out to smother Harry with kisses, and Jareth kept conjuring more and more crystals, until he looked not unlike a very glittery Christmas tree.

Harry didn't mind. He was greedy for it, hugging Sarah back as tightly as possible. Finally they couldn't put it off anymore, and Sarah placed her hand on the large mirror in the throne room, as Jareth changed into his barn owl form, perching on her shoulder. "Platform 9 3/4." Sarah commanded the mirror, and they stepped forward onto a bustling platform.

ooooooooo

Harry found an empty compartment towards the front of the train. He curled up close to the window, waving frantically at Sarah and Jareth. Sarah waved back, smiling wide, as tears glittered in her eyes. As the train whistle sounded loudly, Jareth launched himself off of his wife's shoulder, spreading his wings wide to follow the train as it departed the station. Harry laughed a little, but forced himself to wave him back. Jareth circled next to his window once, and winked before allowing a thermal to carry him up again, and he circled back to his wife. Harry waved until he could no longer see the platform.

Almost as soon as the platform was completely out of sight - right when Harry was contemplating curling into a ball and having a good cry - the compartment door slid open. A blonde, round faced boy looked at Harry nervously. He was attempting to drag his trunk behind him even as he kept a strong grip on an angry bullfrog. "Ah. Hello. Do you mind if I - only everywhere else is full."

Harry smiled wide, "Come on in! I've got nothing but room. Here I'll help you." Harry, eager to be distracted from the homesickness that was already setting in, bounced forward to take a hold of the large trunk. It was much heavier than his own, but Harry easily pretended to himself that it was lighter, and was able to lift it up onto the luggage racks near the ceiling.

"Wow." The pale boy said, pulling the door behind him tightly shut and finally letting his annoyed frog go. "How'd you do that?"

"By lifting." Harry said. He leaned down to look at the frog, not noticing the confusion on the boy's face, "Oh, is this an American bullfrog? I was thinking about getting one of them, but my Mom tends not to like slimy things."

"I - yes." The boy said. He seemed to have some kind of interrupting curse, where he interrupted himself if no one else would. Harry knew one of the fairies that loved to place a curse like that on the most annoying goblins. "That's Trevor. My uncle got him for me when I got my Hogwarts letter. He keeps running away." The boy admitted, slightly despondent.

"Hmmm," Harry considered, before reaching out to lightly tap the frog on the head. It looked at him reproachfully, but didn't move away, "Probably hungry. I used to have a rock that did the same thing."

"I - okay." the boy said, looking at Harry strangely.

Harry abruptly realized that he hadn't introduced himself, and he bounced to his feet, sticking out his hand in what Sarah had taught him was the traditional Above greeting, "Anyway, I'm Harry Potter. What's your name?"

The boy gaped for a second, before reaching out to shake Harry's hand. Harry, excited by meeting his first real Abovegrounder, shook it rather enthusiastically, "N-N-Neville. Neville Longbottom."

"Nice to meet you!" Harry said excitedly, taking his seat. "I'm looking quite forward to seeing Hogwarts! I've read all the introductory texts, and I think potions is going to be the most fun. Transfiguration sounds deadly dull though. What do you think?"

Neville took the seat across from Harry, "I don't really know. I'm just surprised to get in at all I guess."

Harry looked up, interested, "Oh really, are you a Muddle?"

Neville stared at him for a moment, "A muggle? No. Both of my parents and my grandparents were wizards. I was just - never very magical."

"Really?" Harry asked, fascinated.

Neville nodded, looking a little depressed again, "Yeah. They thought I was a Squib for the longest time. No one thought I'd get into Hogwarts."

Harry frowned a little, trying to remember the books he'd read over the summer, "A squib's the one that doesn't have magic right? But I thought a muggle didn't have magic. What's the difference?"

Neville blinked at him, "A squib is born into a family that's magical. I'm sorry. Why don't you know this?"

Harry pouted a bit, he thought he was doing pretty good! It wasn't his fault the wizards had so many strange words! "I'm trying!"

Neville shook his head, "No I mean, you're _Harry Potter_. You should have grown up with all this. Like me."

Harry frowned, reaching into his bag for a breakfast cabbage, and cracking it open sharply, "Oh after my parents died I was put with my adoptive parents. They don't belong to the wizarding world."

"They don't?" Neville asked, sounding amazed.

Harry cracked off a leaf of the breakfast cabbage, dragging it through the yolk, crunching down on it happily, "Oh no. My father didn't really want me to go to Hogwarts at all. Thought it might be too dangerous. But my mum's a muggle, and she thought it might be a good idea to take a few years to learn how to really use my magic."

Neville wasn't paying much attention however, staring at Harry's cabbage, "What is _that?_"

"Breakfast cabbage of course! Do you want some?" Harry offered it to him.

"I don't - what's a breakfast cabbage?" Neville asked, looking at it with fascination.

Harry's mouth dropped open in shock, "Do you not have breakfast cabbage here? That's awful! What do you eat in the mornings?"

Their conversation quickly devolved into Harry demanding to know which of his favorite foods were available at Hogwarts. He was horrified to discover that they didn't serve breakfast cabbage, the really good crunchy rocks, or even bogleaf salads!

Eventually their conversation swung back around to the Hogwarts classes, and Neville admitted that he was really looking forward to Herbology. "Gran never really let me do much around the house, but I was in charge of the gardens. It was always really interesting."

Harry smiled a little, stroking a finger up and down Trevor's back, "That sounds like fun! I think potions is going to be brilliant, I've read all about it. Though some of the ingredients make me a little queasy." He admitted, rubbing his stomach. There'd been a vat of beetle eyes at the apothecary, and it made him a little nauseous to think about all his insect friends wandering around with no eyes.

"What house do you think you'll get?" Neville asked, with the air of someone who was no longer able to wait for a topic to come up naturally in conversation.

Harry blinked at him, "Ummm, Hogwarts? Is there more than one?"

Neville frowned at him, "You don't know? They didn't tell you?" Harry shook his head, wondering what this was about, "There are four houses inside Hogwarts. It's where you dorm for all seven years. And then, in class, you can earn points with right answers or points get taken away for misbehavior, and the house with the most points wins the House Cup at the end of the year."

Harry vaguely remembered Sarah trying to tell him something like this, "Oh right. Griffin Doors. And ... Ruffle Puffs? And something Raven?"

Neville was giving him a look of horrified fascination, "Ravenclaws." He said faintly, but his voice got stronger as he went, "And Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. And Slytherin. They're named after the four Hogwarts founders. Didn't you read your muggle guides?"

"I did!" Harry blushed a little, "Well, okay, I did, but I didn't pay very close attention. Mum usually passes the important stuff along to me and Dad. So how do you know what house you're going to be in?"

Neville straightened a bit, "Well, you're kind of split up depending on characteristics. Ravenclaws are smart. Gryffindors are brave. Hufflepuffs are loyal. Slytherins are cunning." He said this last with an odd look on his face.

Harry stared at the compartment ceiling while he considered this. It sounded a lot like the Picky Bridges on the far side of the labyrinth. One only liked nice people and the other only liked rude people, but they were in a row, and you had to get over both of them. So of course the trick was to be both at once, but not too much of either or the bridges would decide to keep you. He smiled, this would be fun.

ooooooo

After a quick trip across the lake in rowboats that propelled themselves – Harry found the self-propulsion to be much more interesting than the castle that appeared across the lake – Harry and the rest of the first years were delivered into a room to wait while the Deputy Headmistress told them about the school.

Harry was rather distracted by the fact that the entire castle seemed to be made of rocks and stone. He pet one of the large ones by his head, leaning in to listen to it. Ludo had long ago taught him the language of stone, and he wondered at a society that would build their castle out of such flightly materials. The stone he was petting was absolutely delighted to be pet, and leaned just slightly into his touch, but Harry nudged him gently back into the wall, as the other higher stones began to shift and complain.

When he turned back around McGonagall had left and all the other children were looking at him. He smiled brightly, "Can you believe they built this place out of stone?"

There was a moment of silence, before a pale boy with blonde hair forced himself to the front of the group, "Is it true? Longbottom said you're Harry Potter."

Harry thought the second Picky Bridge would like this boy very much, "That's what the letter said."

The boy frowned in confusion for a moment, but took a step forward, holding out his hand, "Draco Malfoy. You –"

Whatever he was going to say was lost as Harry reached out to shake his hand, enthusiastically and quickly, actually shaking the boy as well. Harry figured that meant he was finally figuring out this hand shake thing. "Nice to meet you."

Draco snatched his hand back as soon as Harry let go, clearing his throat and fixing his robes, "Yes. Well-"

But the boy was fated to be interrupted again, as four ghosts slipped through the walls around them, and the students gasped and pointed, one girl even shrieked a little. Harry leaned back against the wall to get a better look at them, fascinated.

oooooooo

The sorting – for that's what it turned out to be called – started with an old floppy hat singing a song. Harry was tempted to join in and dance, but he'd learned over the summer that Above did not appreciate dancing and singing nearly as much as they did in the Below. In fact he and Sarah had been kicked out of one shop in Muggle London when Harry had gotten too enthusiastic about one of the songs that was playing.

After the hat had finished its song, the students were called forward one by one. Harry took the time to study the staff table. Dumbledore was sitting front and center, in a chair that made Jareth's throne look simple and rough. He appeared to be focused on the sorting, but Harry hadn't gotten past The-Thing-With-All-The-Eyes four times by luck, he could always feel when someone was focusing on him. Likewise, down the table a sallow man with a hooked noise and stringy black hair was pretending to listen to his dinner companion, but really focused completely on Harry. He met the man's eyes squarely, wondering at the attention.

It made sense that people would be looking at him, some of the first years still were, though most were distracted by the hat, which even at this moment was sorting someone named Hermione to Gryffindor. But how did this man know he was famous? Harry had carefully covered his fake scar with his bangs before getting off the train, not wanting to be mobbed again, and besides, the man was much too far away to possibly see a scar on a boy's forehead. It made sense that Dumbledore would recognize him, but how had this other man known who he was?

The man in question broke off eye contact after a moment, and began scowling down at the room in general.

Harry tucked the question away to deal with later, and took a larger look at the bench of teachers. He was most surprised to see a tiny man sitting a few seats down from Dumbledore, on the other side from the pale man. He looked a lot like the Above goblins, except perhaps a little taller. Harry was intrigued. Father hadn't said anything about the goblins having children with wizards, he wondered if it was common. He chewed on his inner cheek as he wondered if the man would recognize him. If he did, he wondered where the man's loyalties lay. With the goblins or with Dumbledore?

He was so distracted that it took two calls of his name before he realized he was being called, and he moved forward to the hat sheepishly, instantly feeling the pressure of thousands of eyes focused only on him. People were whispering all over the hall as he sat, and as the hat fell on his head he saw lots of people craning to get a look at him.

"_Well well. What do we have here?"_

_A young wizard waiting on a decision from an old hat_. Harry thought.

The hat chuckled in his head dryly, _"A sharp mind I see. Ravenclaw for you I think."_

_Oh but I really want to go with my friend Neville._ Harry thought, bringing to mind all the times he and his goblin friends had to stick together while playing in the labyrinth.

"_Loyal too I see. And brave, to want to go to Gryffindor."_

_I just want to go where I can do my best. _Harry thought, thinking of how he really wanted to be successful so that Jareth would be proud of him and realize that going to Hogwarts was the right thing.

"_A thirst for greatness. Slytherin can help you there."_

_But what about Neville?_ Harry thought, focusing on how he didn't want to leave the shy boy alone.

The hat paused for a moment, and so began a long meandering conversation between the two of them. Any time the hat seemed to be settling for one house over the other Harry would quickly direct it down another path.

After a long while (Harry was later told that it had been over eight minutes, and so the longest hat stall in sixty years) Harry felt a strange pressure in his head before the hat burst out laughing. Apparently this was not just in Harry's head because the murmuring throughout the hall immediately picked up with a fury. _"Are you playing with me Goblin Prince?_"

Harry grinned, _"Yes."_

The hat cackled again, the sound echoed in the hall, _"You remind me strongly of Salazar. You would fit in anywhere young wizard, but I know Filius would enjoy having you to expand the mind of his Ravens. So I leave it up to you. Ravenclaw or Slytherin?"_

Harry grinned.


	3. Classes

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter or Labyrinth, this is for fun.

Certain small sections have been taken directly from Hp&amp;tSS chapters The Sorting Hat and The Potions Master, notably Dumbledore's speech after diner, and Snape's speech and some of the questions to the potions class.

oooooo

Harry grinned, pleased to be able to decide his own fate, _Where will I be safest?_

The hat responded readily, _"Many of the fallen Dark Lord's closest followers were Slytherin. You may have difficulties with their children in that house. But your head of house, Severus, is sworn thrice fold to protect you."_

_Is he the goblin?_ Harry asked, interested.

_"No. That is Filius, the head of Ravenclaw. Severus is the other teacher you noticed."_

Ah, the man who had been staring at him so fixedly, _You don't think Filius would protect me too?_

The hat's tone was contemplative, _"I am unsure if Filius's loyalties to his grandfather's world would win out if Albus gave a competing order. And Severus is uniquely motivated to protect you. I cannot say anymore about it."_

He didn't need to though, Harry knew that one assured champion was better than the possibility of more. As the Wiseman said, one hat on head is better than two in the closet. _Slytherin then_.

The hat did not hesitate, and shouted for the entire hall to hear, "Slytherin!"

_Thank you._ Harry thought.

The hat chuckled again, privately, _"Thank you young prince. It has been the most interesting sorting in quite some time._"

Harry pulled the hat off, finally, and found himself the subject of a thousand eyes. Though he had not quite been paying attention during other sortings, he was pretty sure he was supposed to be met with some kind of applause. Was he supposed to start it?

As he stood he handed the hat to McGonagall, and another question occurred to him. He didn't remember which table Slytherin was supposed to be. He cast an inquiring look back towards the hat, which chuckled again, "Green and silver my boy."

Harry smiled his thanks and headed to the table with the green and silver finishes. There was only one spot open at the very end, and no one seemed inclined to move, still busy staring at him. He sat just as the hat broke the silence again, "Well, there are four more students waiting, are there not?"

McGonagall cleared her throat, finally tearing her eyes away from Harry to call up the next student. The hall had recovered enough by the last two students to clap again, though it was quiet and hesitant. Harry noticed though, that no one went more than a few moments without shooting him a wary look. It was if they were expecting him to do something odd or dangerous right there at dinner.

Harry, who had been accepted and loved his entire life, found the nearly palpable sensation of distrust to be extremely odd. Subtly, under the table, he kicked off his shoe so he could rub his foot against one of the stones on the floor. It purred comfortingly under the caress, and Harry felt his shoulders relax a bit.

As soon as the sorting was over McGonagall rolled up her scroll and picked up the hat. There was silence for a moment before Dumbledore stood, opening his arms wide to the hall, "Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you." And he sat back down.

Harry was strongly reminded of his father, and some of the speeches he gave to the goblins. A twist of homesickness shot through him, and he pressed his foot even harder against the stone under him. He was distracted nearly immediately by the sudden appearance of food on the golden plates on the table. There were only a few recognizable things, and Harry frowned as he selected things carefully. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the roast chicken tasted nearly the same, but unpleasantly surprised to discover that one of the slightly curved gray cylinders turned out to not be desert root, but rather an oddly spiced meat thing.

Just as he was carefully picking out seconds of the chicken there was an odd commotion further down the table. Its cause became clear when the blonde boy from before pushed someone out of the way to take the seat directly across from Harry. "Harry Potter, in Slytherin."

Harry was unsure how to respond to that rather obvious statement. He wondered a little at the Above tendency to repeat the obvious at every opportunity. The tradition of commenting on the weather particularly was strange. Choosing not to reply he continued to chew on his chicken. He'd made the mistake of trying the odd orange drink, and now needed something to overcome the gross slimy-cold flavor of whatever it was.

Draco was undaunted by Harry's silence, "I must say I was expecting the great Harry Potter to shun us evil Slytherins right away."

Harry blinked in surprise, "You don't seem evil to me. Rude of course, but not evil."

Draco's face twisted at this statement, and a few of the older students around them smiled a little, "I am not rude." He insisted, hotly.

Harry gave him a look. Sarah had assured him that the rules of manners were much the same Above as Below, with the exception of shaking hands and the rules about when and when not to sing. "You just shoved that boy aside without excusing yourself or asking him to move." Draco looked at the boy he had shoved aside, clearly unsure why he should care. "That's rude." Harry explained, patiently. Maybe that's why the Above people were constantly repeating obvious things, it took it a while to sink in.

"Blaise doesn't care. Do you Blaise?" Blaise just raised an eyebrow at Draco and continued eating.

Draco opened his mouth, clearly annoyed, but was interrupted by Dumbledore getting to his feet.

"Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Gryffindor table. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

There were a few strangled laughs at this last bit, but Harry didn't see what was funny about a death threat.

"Absolutely mad." Draco said, sounding a little faint. Harry looked at him. There were two spots of color high in his pale cheeks.

A couple seats down an older boy who'd introduced himself as Marcus shook his head, "Bets on when the Weasley twins end up dead?"

Around them the rest of the hall had started singing the Hogwarts song. A few of the Slytherins hummed a few bars, but none of them looked very interested. Harry, who loved music more that almost anything, was put off by the competing tunes. It wasn't so much music as a cacophony of noise. Instead he watched as money exchanged hands, people betting on when the Weasley twins would go up to the third floor against advice. Some put money on them dying altogether, while most were leaning towards some kind of injury. None of the first years put anything, and no one in Slytherin seemed to think that Dumbledore's warning was anything but stark truth."Who're the Weasley twins?" Harry asked.

Marcus jerked his thumb over to the Gryffindor table, "See that mass of red-heads? That's the Weasley family. Percy's a prefect this year, which is going to be a pain in the ass, the boy is married to rules. The twins are in third year, and they're pranksters. Most of it is against the teachers or other Gryffindors, which is fine. Last year they turned Higgs's hair red after he beat them in the Quidditch final. It was some good spell work."

Harry smiled, looking over to the two identical redheads, who were enthusiastically singing the school song at a slow deep tempo. Harry had had a few prank wars with some of the Goblins Below, but he was not very good at it. Sometimes they seemed too mean to him. When he'd been about nine one of the goblin women had been driven to sobs when her friend had hidden her favorite cannonball by the bog and it had accidently rolled in. It had soured him on any of the following prank wars. However, he had nothing against people having a little honest fun.

The twins in question finally finished singing and Dumbledore released them all to their beds. The Slytherin prefect stood, introduced herself as Gemma Farley, and called for the first years. Once they were all together, she led them out of the hall as a group. The yellow and black group followed close with them for a bit, before taking an abrupt left down a brightly lit hallway. The Slytherins continued down to a wide set of stairs. "This is the main stair into the dungeon." Gemma explained as they made their way down, "There are many other ways down, but this is the closest to the Great Hall and it will probably be the one you use most often."

As they descended it got steadily chillier, and the rocks rose faster under his feet, nudging him playfully. He stepped down on them firmly, chiding them about staying still. The wizards were trusting them to hold this castle up after all. It would be rude to go anywhere else. Most of them were happy enough with their assigned positions and readily settled back into place, but a couple grumbled about things stuck in their cracks. Harry gently nudged those ones with his toe, assuring them he'd be back later.

Harry was growing used to the feeling of being stared at, so he didn't notice the way people were looking at his odd movements down the hall. Gemma ignored him completely as she continued to tell them about the dungeons, "You will get quite used to the way the dungeons are laid out, not only our common room but potions class and Professor Snape's office are down here. Professor Snape is our Head of House, and will be your advocate in all disciplinary matters." They took a few odd turns. Harry, with his experience in the labyrinth, easily committed the route to memory. They arrived at a blank expanse of wall, and Gemma motioned them to ring around her. "This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room. If you look behind you, you can see the snake shaped sconce on the wall. There is only one like it in the dungeons, and that is it. It is the easiest way to make sure you are trying to get into the correct wall." She smirked a little at that, "The password will stay the same for the first month of the semester, after that it will change every two weeks. It is your responsibility to keep track of the password. For now it is, _Many Doubt_."

The wall collapsed quickly into a passageway, and Gemma led them through to the common room. It was warmer in here, with a blazing fire and comfortable looking couches. Though they were clearly underground there were large leaded glass windows that peered out into the depths of the lake. Gemma motioned them to the couches, and Harry took a seat on the floor itself, absentmindedly comforting a grumbling rock by picking a sickle out from between it and the rock next to it.

Gemma continued her speech casually, "For those of you who are Muggle born or Muggle raised, it will soon become apparent that Slytherin house is the most vilified and distrusted at Hogwarts. There is no use complaining that it is unfair. Things are not fair. You must get used to this as soon as you can." Harry finally pried the sickle loose, and thought that Gemma would be very good at the labyrinth.

"And yes," she said, voice suddenly hard, "we are aware that some of you are Muggle born or Muggle raised. Though the rest of the school is happy to stick to their convictions that no Muggleborns could possibly be sly or cunning, there are always a few in our house. While inside the dorms you will act _civilly _and _politely_ to each other, regardless of birth or your personal beliefs, or you will find your stay unpleasant. Outside the dorms you may act within your personal beliefs as long as your distaste is not directed at any fellow Slytherins." Gemma crossed her arms, meeting each of their eyes individually. "We have enough problems with the rest of the school being against us, there will be no fighting in-house. It will simply not be tolerated. And yes, that includes our most surprising new member." Gemma turned her attention to Harry then, narrowing her eyes a bit, "Do you understand the rules?"

Harry grinned, and flipped the silver coin through the air, catching it on its descent, "Yes ma'am."

Gemma held his eyes for a moment, before looking towards each of the other students in turn, they each mumbled their acceptance. "Good. If you have any problems contact me or any of the other prefects. There are six of us. Myself and Edward are the fifth year prefects, Eric and Melissa are the sixth year. Grant and Melody are graduating in the spring and will be attempting to focus on their NEWTS. They should be your last resort. Professor Snape makes himself readily available to any Slytherins with concerns. Someone will show you where his office is in the morning." Gemma seemed to relax a little, unfolding her arms to straighten her robes. "Now, unless you have any questions, the boys dorms are directly behind you, the room will have your year on it. And the girls can follow me."

No one had any questions, so the two groups of students moved off to their dorms. The six boys were pleasantly surprised at the comfortable beds behind the door. The dorms seemed to be in a shallower part of the lake, so even more light streamed in, lighting everything with a calming green. Everyone's trunk was already at the foot of their beds, and Harry quickly threw his open, grabbing for some paper and a quill. He already had so much stuff to tell his parents!

The other boys moved a bit slower, but did much the same. The boy next to Harry finished his letter first and gathered some bathroom supplies and went to the attached bath. Harry finished his letter only a moment after, and quickly locked it back in his trunk, grabbing his bathroom stuff as he did.

The bathroom was set up with a few shower stalls, and three similar toilet stalls. Harry, used to his own palatial bathroom, could not help but wrinkle his nose a little at the idea of sharing the space with five other wizards. He felt bad about it, but he would really miss the ability to take a bath!

The other boy caught his look in the mirror and laughed, "Yeah. I guess it's still a boarding school, even if it's in a castle."

Harry half smiled sheepishly, "I'm sure it'll be fine." He considered the tiny space, which already felt crowded with only the two of them, "Maybe."

The boy snorted, and offered his hand, "Theo Nott. Nice to meet you." Harry reached out to shake, and the boy immediately clamped his other hand over their joined hands, moving them up and down only once before letting go, "Like this. Not so enthusiastic."

Harry raised his eyebrows, "Ah. How strange."

Theo smirked a bit, "It's things like that that are going to make everyone very interested in where Dumbledore secreted you away."

Harry grimaced, "Am I sticking out?"

Theo laughed, "You could say that. Even if people weren't already going to be following your every move they would be now." Harry frowned, trying not to pout. What had he done that was so odd? Theo seemed to read his mind and smirked, "You left your shoes in the Great Hall."

Harry smiled sheepishly, looking down at his bare feet, "Oops."

ooooooo

The next morning classes started in earnest. As promised Edward, the other fifth year prefect, showed them how to get from the common room to Professor Snape's office. He then let them make their way back to the Great Hall on their own. Harry moved confidently through the twisting nearly featureless hallways of the dungeons, and Theo tagged along behind him as Draco and the others went down another corridor. Draco insisted to the others it was a shortcut his father had told him about, but Harry knew better than to trust a shortcut he didn't know.

They were the first of the first years to make it back to breakfast. Gemma gave them a small smile, as did some of the other students. Breakfast was alright, except Harry again had to deal with trying to guess which Above food would be good enough to eat. The absence of breakfast cabbage left him completely confused. He settled for putting the same things on his plate that Theo did, but in smaller portions in case they were as gross as the juice he'd had last night.

The odd wavy cut pink strips turned out to be amazing. But the brown aromatic drink that Theo poured himself was like licking a goblin's foot! Harry instantly put that into the 'Never-Touch-Again' pile. The mass of squishy yellow stuff turned out to be extremely similar to the inner yolk of a breakfast cabbage. He devoured two helpings of that along with plenty of the strips of what he learned was called bacon. He resolved to add a postscript to his letter asking Sarah to send him some information on Above food. This was just weird!

Halfway through breakfast Draco and the other boys arrived, looking disheveled. Draco threw him a nasty look but Harry knew he hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't his fault Draco wouldn't listen to him about the so called shortcut. Professor Snape came around then to hand out the class schedules.

Harry studied his schedule to figure out where they would be going today. "Do you know where any of these places are?" Harry asked Theo. Maybe wizarding children were given maps of some kind?

Theo grimaced, and shook his head, "Not a clue. Ah dam, we don't get Potions until Friday!"

Harry, who had been concentrating on one day at a time, looked down at his schedule to confirm. It was too bad it was so far off, from what he'd read Potions was going to be his favorite class. Unless Defense Against the Dark Arts turned out to be much much better than the textbooks would lead one to believe. Across the table Draco was pushing the other two boys – Harry had overheard their names were Vince and Greg when they'd been arguing about how to get to breakfast. The three of them stood together and made their way out of the hall quickly. Harry, remembering what Gemma had said the night before, quickly went to her, "Excuse me? Can you help us find our classes?"

She and the other fifth years she was sitting with seemed caught off guard by the question, but she readily took his schedule, and made some notes along the back. "I don't have time to take you all the way up to the Charms corridor, I have to get up to Divination. Try to follow these directions and you should be alright. And remember, if you need help-"

"Ask another Slytherin." Harry responded dutifully. She nodded sharply and waved them on their way.

oooooo

With Gemma's notes they were far and ahead the most prepared of the first years. Half the problem with classes at Hogwarts was just getting to them. The castle filled Harry with a sense of homesickness so strong that it bordered on physical pain. There were trick stairs and doors that would only open if you tickled them a certain way. Peeves, the poltergeist, would pelt anyone standing still long enough with chalk. Safe routes had to be plotted out from behind cover a number of times.

Though Gemma's notes weren't specific enough to warn them about the trick stairs, just knowing the general direction they should be heading put Harry and Theo far ahead of their yearmates. Except for the Hufflepuffs, who moved everywhere as a group with a different prefect leading each time. Harry thought it was an odd system, as surely the prefects, especially the fifth and seventh years, would be missing important parts of their classes. Then again, it was probably generally more efficient than the Gryffindor system. They seemed allow the first years to run around the school like confused goblins, bumping into walls and running afoul of the caretaker. In fact, one Gryffindor student showed up in the first five minutes of Harry's first Transfiguration lesson. He had taken a seat in the back for a full minute, before realizing he was with the wrong house. McGonagall had taken five points for swearing and a further five for running in the halls. Ravenclaws were different all together. Harry could have sworn that he saw one hastily folding up a map at one point. You'd think that would mean they would be first to every class, but from the one day of Herbology the Slytherins shared with them, it was very much not true. Ravenclaws seemed to be delayed by the oddest things, Harry found one investigating the statue of the hump-backed witch on the third floor just minutes before the Ravenclaws were supposed to be heading down to Potions.

Of course, once you got used to the castle, you had to deal with the classes and, perhaps more importantly, the professors. During his first Charms class Harry had been a bit worried when Professor Flitwick had read his name, squeaked, and toppled off the stack of books he'd been standing on. Luckily though, it seemed this reaction was due to Harry's fame as the Boy-Who-Lived, and Flitwick seemed to have no idea about Harry's other claim to fame.

History of Magic was taught by a ghost, and not very well at all. In fact Harry realized, as he sat in horrified fascination during their first lesson, most of it was outright lies. Professor Binns began a obviously well rehearsed speech as soon as everyone sat down, starting off with what he called "The First Goblin Rebellion". Harry listened with straight out incredulity as the man described a war with goblin kind that Harry had never heard of. He spoke of tactics that the goblins would never have used (namely, anything involving a well organized militia) and finally, when he mentioned a 'clan chieftain' while describing their governmental make up, Harry could hold it in no longer.

He raised his hand straight up in the air, drawing the attention of all the other Slytherins, but not Professor Binns. The ghost continued with his lecture, until Harry cleared his throat loudly, holding his hand still in the air. All the Slytherins were watching him with fascination. Finally Binns seemed to realize something was going on, and he looked blearily over at Harry. "Yes, Mr. Fink?"

Harry lowered his hand, "It's Potter actually. I don't understand what you're talking about. Why do you think the goblins have a chieftain?"

Binns blinked slowly, "During the first war the Goblin Chieftain was named Uric the -"

Harry shook his head, "No sir. The goblins have never had a chieftan. They would never have any kind of governmental body here. The only one who can lead goblins is King Jareth, Ruler of Below, Sorcerer of Glass and Builder of the Labyrinth." At Jareth's full title the small mirror in Harry's pocket grew warm, and though he was probably the only one to notice, the sky outside grew a shade darker, "Without his approval no goblins could wage a war, especially not one of the size you're suggesting!"

Binns frowned at him, looking a little more solid, "Young man, I am not sure where you received this fanciful information, but I assure you -"

"And I assure you, sir, that none of what you've said is true or even bound by the faintest bit of logic."

Binns cleared his throat officiously, "I am the History of Magic Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I know my subject Mr. Fink. And if you persist with these outlandish claims I will have no choice but to dock you points and bring you in front of the headmaster."

Harry, though his temper was boiling away in his stomach, took a second to weigh his options. Loss of points would further decrease his standing in Slytherin, and he was not prepared for any type of confrontation with Dumbledore. There was little chance he would gain much from continued rebellion. He had little to no information about the quagmire he could easily be stepping into. He didn't know, for example, how widespread these beliefs about goblins were. He didn't know how well respected Binns was. And, perhaps most dangerously, he had absolutely no idea where these insane lies had come from in the first place.

He swallowed back the hard bitter feeling in his throat, and half nodded once, "I'm sorry sir." though he said it with such ill will his fellow Slytherins shifted uneasily. Binns however, was mollified, and began his speech as if he'd never been interrupted.

Harry pulled out his quill and parchment, determined to do everything he could to fix this. His people were counting on him.

oooooo

In direct opposition to the inept ghost, Transfiguration was ruled competently by Professor McGonagall, who easily intimidated the room into silence by turning her desk into a pig and back, causing Harry to raise his eyebrows. Well if they were changing things like that, maybe this class wouldn't be as boring as he thought!

Harry's bubble was immediately burst however, when McGonagall handed out matchsticks and told them to try and attempt to change them into needles.

Harry was befuddled by this task. Couldn't every goblin of three years do a basic imagining like this? But he did as he was told, closing his eyes and spinning the matchstick between his thumb and first finger, picturing a needle. When he opened his eyes a moment later the needle was bright and shiny in his hand, and he dropped it negligently on the desk, before taking a look around at the others.

To Harry's complete and utter shock, not one of the first years had managed to so much as turn their matchstick gray! Next to him Theo was staring down at his matchstick with intense concentration, waving his wand over it. It didn't react a jot.

Harry looked around again, wondering how absolutely no one seemed to be capable of basic imagining! Maybe these wizards weren't as powerful as they wanted everyone to think. Harry bit his lip, and reached out for his needle. If normal wizards couldn't do it, maybe he should pretend to struggle as well. A hidden strength was one that couldn't be planned against, after all. Harry placed his finger on the needle and rolled it back and forth. When he stopped moving it was a matchstick again, the same as Theo's. He glanced around to make sure no one had noticed, and met Theo's wide eyes staring at his work.

A jolt of wariness passed through Harry's stomach. They had only known each other for a day now. If Harry intended to keep this secret for years - which seemed likely - he would need to count on Theo's silence for years. Theo lifted his eyes to meet Harry. They both knew the options here. Harry could change his matchstick back and show his skill to everyone. This would be his smartest move, as having the secret meant Theo had power over him. Theo could announce right now that Harry had done the assignment, and easily. The risks and benefits of each course were legion. Harry could practically see the pros and cons of each plan running through Theo's head. Finally Theo nodded, once, shortly, and turned his attention back to his own matchstick.

Harry considered Theo for one final moment. He turned back to his desk and began pretending to try his hardest to turn a matchstick into a needle.

ooooo

After dinner that night Harry and Theo easily separated themselves from the group, and wandered off to an abandoned classroom they'd found in the dungeons. Judging by the dust and spiderwebs they were the only ones to have found the place for a long time. Harry pushed the door shut behind them, and turned to find Theo already looking at him.

"How'd you do that?" Theo asked, doing his best to sound bored, but Harry could hear the excitement beneath his voice.

He scuffed his toe against the floor, considered if he should lie or not. "I - I've been doing stuff like that forever. Long since I got my wand. I don't understand how you wizards can't! Everyone I know -" Harry broke off, realizing he was getting too close to revealing too much. "Everyone I know thinks it's normal. I didn't know that wizards here were so bad at Transfiguration."

Theo's brow was creased hard, and he appeared to be mulling that over, "Why'd you want to keep it a secret then?"

Harry shrugged a little, "People are always staring at me. Cause of, you know." Harry lifted his hand to his forehead, but dropped it before it could get that far. He frowned down at the floor, "Plus, you know, any secret skill-"

"Is a skill that can't be planned for." Theo nodded, "Well. I'll keep your secret."

Harry grinned at him, "Really?"

Theo nodded once, sharply, "Yes. And -" he hesitated, "I'll tell you a secret of mine. So it's fair."

Harry was torn. He did trust Theo. But they'd only met a few days ago. His Slytherin brain, which was already flourishing with the tutelage of his new house, told him getting a secret of Theo's would be the smartest thing. But it seemed mean. "You don't have to." Harry said. Though he didn't sound quite convinced himself and his response only seemed to encourage Theo more, and he looked even more determined.

"Yes I do." He bit his lip, "I really want a friend. And we can't really be friends if -"

He broke off again, because Harry was nodding, having already followed that thought to the end, "Okay. If that's what you want."

Theo straightened a bit, looking determined, but his voice was soft, "My father is a Death Eater. He bribed the Wizengamot to get himself off." Harry's mouth fell open in surprise.

oooooo

Needless to say, after their long talk that night Harry and Theo were even more inseparable than before. Slytherin friendships, Harry learned, were quite different from regular friendships. Once he and Theo had a bit of leverage on each other, trust was easy, and so was friendship. Theo seemed relieved to have someone to talk to. Harry knew that Theo would have his back against the rest of the Slytherins. The rest of Slytherin house was a study in contradictions. Some of the older children, including Draco, looked at Harry like he was plotting to betray them at any moment. Others studied Harry with interest, offering him homework tips and advice without being asked. Still others did the same thing as many of the students from other houses, and only looked at his forehead when speaking to him.

Meanwhile classes continued. Astronomy met at midnight on Tuesday nights. Their first astronomy class was the first drastic example of Gemma's words on the night of the opening feast.

All ten of the Slytherin first years left from the common room together, yawning a bit, at half past eleven. Harry and Theo, who were nigh inseparable since that first Transfiguration lesson, led the group up the many winding stairs to the Astronomy tower. Their telescopes were already in the astronomy classroom, delivered by the same mysterious power that had known where to place their trunks that first night. They were waiting on a staircase to make its way down from the second floor to pick them up, when one of the Ravenclaw prefects appeared.

He saw them, clearly noticed the green touches on their uniforms and scowled suspiciously. "What are you lot doing then? It's far past curfew."

Draco drew himself up, but Harry knew that would end badly for sure and quickly spoke before the boy could get his feet under him, "Going to Astronomy."

The prefect frowned a little harder, eyeing them suspiciously, "Well I will just go with you then. Shall I?"

He said it challengingly, and Harry felt his back stiffen a bit at the tone. He opened his mouth to question what exactly the boy thought they would be doing out, altogether like this, but Blaise beat him to it.

"That sounds wonderful. Is there a faster way?" Blaise's voice, typically the drawling voice of someone who was about to fall asleep, was even slower and lazier than usual. Harry rolled one of his shoulders to release some of his annoyance.

The prefect glared at them all, and shouldered through them, stepping onto the stair that had finally landed. He led them all the way up to the top of the astronomy tower, leading sometimes and other times whirling around to face them, or walk behind them. As if they - all ten of them - could have managed to sneak off behind his back.

When they made it to the tower, the prefect gently took Harry's arm, and ushered the rest into the room. Harry traded raised eyebrows at Theo, but they still had a few minutes until midnight so Harry didn't try to get away. The prefect leaned in furtively, nervous eyes glancing back to the students every so often, "It's an honor to meet you Harry. You should know that us Ravenclaws don't blame you for your sorting." Harry's eyebrow went a little higher, but the boy wasn't looking at his face. Instead his eyes were continually shifting from the group of first years in the classroom, to Harry's scar, to his green and silver tie. "It's obvious you were raised by muggles, so how could you have known? And of course, you hatstalled for quite a while." The prefect reached out and clasped Harry's shoulder for a moment before releasing, "Well, just know, Ravenclaw House will offer any assistance you require. If you ever feel unsafe, just find us. The Ravenclaw tower is the next one over."

Theo was making a hilarious face inside the classroom, and Harry pressed his lips together to avoid laughing. Did people really think that a bunch of eleven year olds were going to band together and murder him? But he knew better than to laugh at an offer of support, no matter how misinformed. He smiled once he was sure he wouldn't laugh, "Thank you."

The prefect nodded pompously, "Of course."

Harry waited until the boy had left to turn and roll his eyes extravagantly. Theo laughed, and even Draco cracked a grin.

oooooo

It was less funny after class, when they were cranky and tired with eyes that seemed to be permanently squinting from looking through their telescopes. The prefect was waiting for them outside the door, looking nearly as cranky as Harry felt.

The Slytherins traded glances, but it was obvious there was nothing to do about this. Draco was scowling darkly, but a few quelling looks from everyone else kept him from starting with the 'my father' threats.

The prefect led them back to the dungeons the same way he'd taken them up; with many suspicious glances and dark looks.

It wasn't until they got to the entrance to the dungeons that Harry, and everyone else, realized what was wrong with this. If they continued going they'd lead the prefect right to their common room!

They traded looks. Blaise spoke up first, "Thank you very much, but I think we will be fine from here."

The prefect looked at him suspiciously, crossed his arms firmly over his chest, "I will deliver you right to your common room."

The silent 'so I know you can't get up to anything evil' was so apparent that it practically echoed. Harry opened his mouth, unsure what to say. His stomach was squirming with a hot mixture of offense and embarrassment. Luckily at that exact second a piece of the dungeon shadow seemed to separate itself from the rest, and Professor Snape appeared silently at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ah. Mister Turpin. Is there a problem here?" his voice was deeper and more melodious than Harry had thought it would be. It drawled, but not the haughty drawl of Draco or the soporific drawl that Blaise favored. Instead Snape sounded like Harry imagined the dragon from the school's motto had sounded. Somehow bored with a thread of clear warning and menace.

The prefect scowled a little, but uncrossed his arms, "I was just delivering you first years from the astronomy tower."

Snape had reached the top of the stairs now, and he peered down at Turpin from his impressive height. "Ah. Thank you for your efforts to keep the first years safe. I believe I can take it from here, however."

Turpin nodded once, "Of course Professor." His tone of voice clearly said something different however, and Snape looked at him coolly for a long moment.

"Yes, Mister Turpin," he finally said, "in fact, a point to Ravenclaw for going above and beyond your duty." Turpin looked surprised, and so did the other Slytherins, but Harry could hear the menace in Snape's voice ramp up a bit, and hid a smile. "Of course, sadly, there is a reason that stalking eleven year olds is beyond your job purview. The prefects rounds end at midnight, and you have stayed out quite far passed that hour. So I will, sadly, have to take twenty points for breaking curfew. Ten points for every hour passed."

Turpin looked ready to explode, but Snape was correct, and they all knew it. There was nothing left for Turpin to do but stalk back to Ravenclaw tower. Snape watched him go with a small sneer. Harry stared at him, transfixed. Now there was that royal air Jarth was always going on about. Harry was rather terrible at it himself.

Snape turned to them, pausing in what looked like surprise when he saw Harry staring at him. Harry dropped his gaze and desperately tried not to fidget. "Thank you sir. We weren't sure what to do."

Snape cleared his throat, almost looking awkward for a moment, before he regained his typical scowl. "If it happens again, lead them to my office door. Merlin knows none of them would be able to find their way around down here if their lives depended on it. Now off with you. Late breakfast will start in your dorm at 1030, as always after Astronomy."

Snape swept off back towards his office, and the first years all traded looks of amusement and pride.

oooooo

When Friday finally rolled round Harry was practically bursting with excitement. A double block of Potions with the Gryffindors was their only class before the weekend. Harry had sent his first letter home yesterday by ducking into the bathroom before anyone else and quickly passing the long roll of parchment through the mirror for Hoggle to pass along.

Harry was excited about the weekend and potions class. He'd read his potions text nearly cover to cover, all of the muggleborn introduction manuals, and two ingredients books that older Slytherins had recommended in the library.

Aside from that, he was fairly bursting to know more about Professor Snape. The only time Harry had seen him was when he'd saved them from the Ravenclaw prefect. The hat's assertion that Snape was sworn thrice to protect him was an intriguing one. Harry was pretty certain that one was a result of the oath all teachers had to take not to knowingly endanger the students (he'd read about it while skimming through _Hogwarts: A History_). But the other two were complete mysteries. Looking Snape up in the library only yielded incomprehensible potions articles, a notice that he was the youngest Potions Master in a century, and a notice in the Wizengomet Quarterly from 1982 that said "Snape, Severus T. - case dismissed, records sealed".

Potions was the only class first years shared with another house. Harry had heard that in a few years more classes would be shared, such as Herbology and their electives. But for now Potions was the only real contact the Slytherins had with the rest of the school.

The Slytherins got to the potions classroom first, ten minutes before the start of class. Everyone had realized after the first few days that Harry was very good at finding his way around. Draco was a bit sulky about it, but he was a true Slytherin, and took the advantage even if he didn't like where it came from.

The door was tightly shut, which Harry thought was a good idea. Potions were very easily contaminated, after all.

The Gryffindors arrived in small groups. First a girl with bushy brown hair and a bookbag filled to the bursting. Harry vaguely recognized her from the library, and smiled at her. She looked at him for a moment before ducking to readjust the books in her bag. Two other girls joined after a moment, holding a glossy magazine between them and pointing to the image of a blonde smiling man. Harry had seen Pansy reading the same article before breakfast, though you wouldn't know it by the haughty look the girl was giving the two Gryffindor girls.

Neville was in the next group, with two other boys. Harry grinned and dragged him and Theo over to the other side of the hall, "Neville!"

Harry had run into Neville a few times in the library, and he seemed constantly surprised when Harry made his way over to speak to him. Harry motioned to Theo, "Have you met Theo? Theo have you met Neville? I am so excited for potions class! It sounds so interesting." Harry paused and grimaced, "Except for all the animal bits."

Theo's mouth curled into a half smile at the same time Neville smiled fully. Both of Harry's friend had heard about his excitement/disgust with potions. At length. Harry noticed their amusement of course, and sighed heavily. "Great, now you're both laughing at me."

Neville tried to hide his smile, but Theo just smirked harder, "I'm sorry Harry. It just funny!"

Harry sighed deeply, pretending to be terribly put upon. "My friends are so mean to me."

Theo smirked a bit more before speaking, "You don't seem to ever have a problem eating your daily rasher of bacon."

Harry fake scowled at him, "Yeah, but I don't have to slice up the pig do I?"

Neville and Theo both laughed at that, just as the door to the potions classroom soundlessly fell open, just as one of the red-headed Wesleys came running down the corridor, huffing. They all went into the classroom and Harry looked around with interest. Like every corner of the dungeons that Harry had seen so far the Potions classroom was dark with a faint greenish glow coming in from the windows that looked out onto the depths of the lake. It was an intimidating atmosphere, even not counting the jars of pickled animals that stood all around the walls. There were three columns of desk pairs, with a cauldron between each pair. Harry and Theo grabbed a pair of desks in the center column, in the second row. Neville and one of the Gryffindor boys took the set behind them, and Draco dragged Goyle up to the first row.

Professor Snape watched them take their seats from behind his desk, which was a giant construct of dark wood. As soon as the final bell rang he snapped open the scroll in his hand and began the class by taking roll call. Harry had grown used to the professors reacting at his name. Flitwick had fallen over, Sinestra, the Astronomy Professor had stopped to smile brilliantly at him, and Quirrell had stuttered so hard that he'd been impossible to understand. Snape, however, just went straight down the list without any reaction.

Once done he snapped his wrist again, and the roll sheet spooled itself back together. He looked out at the class, and seemed to study them for one long moment before he began speaking, "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses …. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Harry was practically vibrating with excitement. That sounded _awesome_! He could hardly wait! He grinned widely at Theo, who was looking amused again, at him probably, but Harry didn't care! He wanted to learn everything right now! Behind them Harry heard Neville swallow nervously.

"Longbottom!" Snape said, suddenly, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Neville gulped audibly again, but Harry had been excitedly talking about this exact potion just two days ago in the library. Neville should remember. "Umm. The Draft of Living Death?"

Snape stared at him for a moment, before he sneered a little, "The Draught of Living Death. If you please." Neville squirmed a bit, but Harry could see him relax as Snape's attention moved away, "Potter. Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Harry sat up a little, thinking, "Well. If you didn't have any in your store room, you'd have to find a goat." Harry grimaced hard, "They can usually be found in the stomach of a healthy goat."

Snape stared at him for a long moment, dark eyes glittering. He sneered again, and turned to the Weasley boy, "Weasley, What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry turned a bit to watch Weasley blink slowly, "Um. I don't know sir. But I think Hermione does." Indeed, next to him the bushy haired girl was practically rising out of her chair her hand was raised so high.

Draco and Goyle laughed softly, making Harry frown at them. Snape smirked as well, and Harry frowned a little more as he turned back to face front. "They're the same plant. Also known as aconite. And that will be a point from Gryffindor for your cheek Weasley. Well?" He asked, moving from behind his desk, "Why aren't you all copying this down?"

Snape then twitched his wand, and the recipe for a potion to cure boils appeared on the chalkboard. They all got to work quickly as Snape swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs. Harry had to pass the fangs over to Theo, feeling kind of sick at the thought of where they'd come from. He did the same with the slugs, but he was fine with the porcupine quills, as he knew they were often shed freely. Snape came around to glare at them once or twice, as he did everyone. He was favored the Slytherins extravagantly, taking points off of the Weasley boy for holding his knife improperly, and glaring so hard at Neville that the poor boy dropped his porcupine quills all over the floor. Luckily not in his cauldron, as it was still on the flame. Slytherin's weren't exempt from his comments, indeed he was nearly just as nasty to Blaise and Daphne towards the back. Though he didn't take any points. He seemed to like Draco though, despite the fact that he was paired with Goyle, Snape stopped at their desks multiple times to hold up examples at just the proper way to stew a horned slug or whatever. Theo and Harry were the only ones he ignored completely, which seemed lucky after the first hour of listening to him 'teach' the rest of the class.

By the end of class Harry and Theo's potion looked close to what it was supposed to - though possibly not as brown as it could be. They bottled it easily and left it on Snape's desk before heading out. Harry gave Neville a large smile and a thumbs up when he saw that the boy's potion was nearly the same shade theirs had been, though maybe a little lighter and more lumpy.

Harry and Theo headed back to their dorms to drop off their Potions texts. Harry was quiet on the way, thinking of the lesson they'd just left. Snape hadn't been at all like he'd thought. Harry understood that they Slytherins were distrusted by the rest of the school, but surely it helped nothing to play into those dark prejudices of what Slytherin house was. Once they got back they went into their dorms to put their books away, already thinking about what they were going to do over their weekend.

Harry's plans were put on hold, however, when he discovered a letter sitting on his bed. His name was scrawled on it in Sarah's simple handwriting, though he could see Jareth's dramatic curls in the first line when he opened it. As soon as he opened it a thin piece of newspaper came fluttering out, landing back on his bed. He grabbed it, feeling his eyebrows raise high as he read the headline **Gringotts Break-In Latest**.

It was with a distinct feeling of trepidation that he turned to his parent's letter.


	4. Flamel

Note: Apparently I can't upload different fonts to ff? Italics are Sarah's handwriting, underlined is Jareth.

oooooo

_Dear Harry_

Sarah's opening was crossed out with Jareth's favored red ink, and below it he'd scripted;

To his highness, Harry Potter, the Goblin Prince,

Harry smiled in amusement. Every so often Jareth got 'a bit regal', as Sarah put it. When he'd been eight Jareth had gone a whole month with a different crown every day. That was the longest it had ever lasted. Jareth usually got bored of it rather quickly.

Sarah's handwriting resumed below the edited greeting.

_We got your letter and we are so relieved that everything is going well! I'm very sorry about the food. _That is a lie, she laughed very hard. _Maybe we could send some breakfast cabbages through Gringotts? In the meantime you'll probably enjoy eggs, bacon and toast. I wouldn't go anywhere near the sausage as it looks far too much like bog root and the difference can be very weird. _I suppose that solves the mystery of why she will not eat bog root. _For lunch stick with sandwiches. They will be mostly the same as the meat packets we have down here. Though the bread is a different sort of texture. Just try anything that looks good! We'll send anything you miss along. And December is not that far off, you'll be home before you know it! _Just let me know if you grow bored. I am sure we can lose some of the hours between now and then.

_This house system seems a bit strange to me. But maybe Britain is different than America, where I went to school. Just be careful and polite like you always are and I am sure things will get better. _And if they don't you could always wish the worst offenders were somewhere far away. In better company.

_The goblins have been pinning quite heavily for you my dear. But not as strongly as your father._

There was a spot of red ink here, as though Jareth was going to interject but had decided not to. Harry grinned, and warmth burst hot and hard in his chest. He loved them so much. It was much harder than he thought it would be to be away from them for so long.

_They have a countdown in the square. And every day they knock another number down with terribly aimed canon fire. They accidently knocked it all down two days ago, and immediately threw a party, because if the count down was done, surely you were coming home. _

_We have been watching Dumbledore as closely as we can and he seems to be very concerned with your sorting. He has held multiple meetings with different teachers trying to see what they think of you. _You are doing very well in your classes we understand. Though it is only the first week, so I am unsure how well anyone could be doing.

Harry snorted. He could practically hear Jareth's sarcastic but proud voice.

_Everyone was very interested in your performance in your History of Magic class. Dumbledore discusses most of his concerns with Snape. The two of them have met three times as we write this. In all of them you are the main topic of discussion. _

As to the stories from your class. I summoned some of the goblins from Gringotts. They explained that they had signed a few contracts early on with the wizarding leaders. At the time the wizard leader did not want to seem as if he just bent over for the goblins. He would only accept a contract if it was signed by the 'goblin leader'. Not wanting to bother me it seems that the goblin in question just told the wizard that he was the chieftain. It seems that throughout the last few hundred years the wizards have just assumed that whichever goblin was in charge at the bank was the leader of the goblins as a nation. No one is sure where these tales of revolts came from. Ragnok has told me they have had a few arguments with the wizards, but nothing they found concerning enough to call me over.

_It is clear, in the tone's of Snape's meetings with Dumbledore that the hat was telling the truth. Snape appears to be your most ardent protector. _Though I am concerned that he is trusting Dumbledore too much as to how to protect you. We must always remember that Dumbledore is the man that abandoned you where you were clearly unwanted. And he felt no hesitation about threatening and tricking your muggle family to do so.

_Dumbledore is also very interested in your behavior. He seems to be convinced that you were safely at your Aunt's house this entire time _indeed he has assured more than one person of this _but that leaves him at a loss to explain your behavior. _

_There is not much else going on down here. The goblins have just begun practicing your welcome back song. I think you will enjoy it._

_Love,_

_Mum_

Harry, I am unsure if you have heard of the recent Gringotts break in. It has soured relations with wizards and goblins a bit. Though there does not seem to be much of a relationship to sour. The vault was empty. It had been emptied the same day if fact. It was owned by a wizard named Nicolas Flamel. Can you see what information you can find on him? Our resources are limited and the mirrors cannot find him without more information. The only thing in the vault was a small red stone of unknown properties and origins, according to inventory. We are still unsure how the thief got in. When you are a bit older I believe you will be sent to deal with goblin-wizard problems such as these. As my heir and the wizard hero you will be very important. I am certain you will do the job very well.

With all my love,

Jareth

Goblin King

Ruler of Below

Sorcerer of Glass

Labyrinth Builder

In smaller, even more delicate cursive, Jareth had added another title.

Your Father

oooooo

Being charged with a royal task filled Harry with a queasy sense of pride and nervous worry. Clearly his first stop should be the library. First he took out a blank parchment and carefully copied the exact spelling of Famel's name. He finished the 'l' not a moment too soon, as the letter folded itself up into a perfectly smooth sphere and crystallized. Harry smiled fondly as he picked it up, setting it carefully on his nightstand. "Don't move." He told it, as he folded up his note and grabbed his bookbag.

He ran into Theo at the common room entrance. "Hey. Are we going to go to that picnic with everyone else? Pansy got the elves to pack enough food for everyone. Actually I think it's probably enough for the whole school."

Harry quirked a smiled, "Actually I'm going to go look something up at the library. You should go though. It shouldn't take long."

Theo's brow furrowed, "It's our first hour off since we got here and you're going to the library?"

Harry shrugged, "My Dad asked me to look someone up. I'll be there when I'm done. Save me some treacle tart."

Theo stared at him for a moment, before smiling just a bit, "No promises."

oooooo

Harry grabbed his favorite table in the library, smack in the middle of the History of Magic section. He'd been doing steady research on the history of the goblins since his first class, but the sheer breadth of the topic was overwhelming. He'd made very little progress this first week. Now he had another task, and he made his way to the more recent books, leaving his bag on the table to hold his place.

He came back with a few directories, just like the one he'd originally found Snape's name in. A quick glance through the most recent turned up no results for 'Flamel' and the back issues didn't either. Only slightly discouraged Harry placed the books back on the shelves and headed to Madame Pince's desk. Her sharp eyes flicked him up and down as he approached, and he smiled at her, "Can you help me? I'm looking for a way to find out about a specific wizard."

She folded her hands precisely, "I suspect you've already checked the wizarding directories I showed you last week Mr. Potter?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Well" She said, and came around the desk, "there's more than one way to skin a shrivelfig. Come with me."

Madame Pince showed him an aisle full of Floo Books, public listings of the floo names of families and public buildings. These records wouldn't tell him much, she explained, just the region where the wizard lived, but even that would be helpful to Harry right now. She had to take a moment to explain to Harry what the Floo was, but then left him to it. Harry shook his head as he dragged the E-F volume towards himself, wizards were so weird. Who would have ever thought of jumping into the nearest fire as a pleasant way to travel? Glimmering, like the goblins did, sounded much easier. And less burn-y.

Once again though, there was no result for Flamel, and Harry huffed softly and put the book back. It looked like he'd have to tell Jareth that he couldn't find anything. The thought of doing that sent a squirming feeling through Harry's stomach and he bit his lip. No. He wouldn't give up yet.

Madame Pince, when Harry went by her desk again, was lecturing two Ravenclaws, holding up a dripping and stained book. Harry thought it might be best to work on his own for a bit. He grabbed a bunch of random directories of different professions, and a list of Ministry of Magic employees, and spread them out on his table. He sighed heavily at the size of the pile and straightened his shoulders before sinking into his chair and diving in.

He'd gotten through the Potioners, Charm Masters, and the first half of the Ministry directories by the time Theo walked in, frowning slightly. "Where have you been? You missed our picnic."

Harry huffed, accidentally blowing a bunch of dust from the spine of 'The Department of Magical Transportation'. He coughed and waved his hand quickly to clear the air, "Sorry. This took way longer than I thought it would."

Theo hummed, clearly unappeased, "What are you looking for anyway?"

Harry sighed, and flipped the Ministry directory closed, "My father asked me to find someone. And all I've got is his name and he's not in any of the complete directories or the Floo ones so I started looking through these," Harry waved a hand to the books that had taken over his entire table, "but there's nothing."

Theo took the chair across from Harry, frowning slightly at the dusty books before dragging one towards him, "Who are we looking for?"

Harry felt himself start to grin, but bit it back, "Nicholas Flamel. I don't know anything about him."

Theo blinked and looked up, forehead creasing tightly, "Flamel. That sounds really familiar."

"It does?"

"Yeah. I think - maybe he invented something? I can't remember."

Harry was excited about this new lead. He jumped up, "Okay I'll go grab a book on famous wizards. You try to remember more."

Harry began to make his way towards the wizarding history sections, but stopped and headed back to Madame Pince's desk instead. If Flamel was famous enough that Theo recognized the name surely Madame Pince would know exactly who he was looking for. She looked up at him with a severe frown that softened only slightly when she recognized him, "Yes Mr. Potter?"

Harry smiled at her, "I'm looking for books on Nicholas Flamel. Do you have any?"

"Three biographies, one authorized, and multiple alchemy texts that discuss his influences. Which were you looking for?"

"The biography. The authorized one, please."

Madame Pince laid the tip of her wand against the rectangular depression on the counter and spoke clearly, "Nicholas Flamel: The Man, the Stone, the Myths". A book appeared in the depression, and Madame Pince opened it to the first page, holding her wand to the top corner, "Lend to Harry Potter. Student." Harry's name scripted itself in gold on that top corner, and underneath it a date three weeks away. Madame Pince handed the book over, "Don't be late with it. The fifth years will need it for their papers soon."

"I won't." Harry promised, hardly able to believe his luck. He clutched the the book tightly and went to find Theo. They put the other books away quickly, Theo looking quite relieved, and then decided to head down to dinner. Harry figured he owed Theo a meal since he'd skipped lunch, even though he was itching to open the book and find out everything he could.

oooooo

After dinner they headed back to the common room. Harry immediately collapsed into an armchair by the fire crossways, and opened Flamel's book. Theo sighed heavily at him, and disappeared into their dorm. He came back a few moments later with his bookbag and took a seat on the couch next to Harry.

A few of the Slytherins gave them odd looks, Harry supposed it was odd to be doing homework Friday evenings, but they were left alone pretty much. Draco, when he strolled in, sneered and muttered something about halfbloods needing to work harder than purebloods. Harry met Theo's eyes and they rolled them in near unison.

Draco strode out of the common room, loudly telling Crabbe and Goyle that they would have some _fun_ this evening. Harry rolled his eyes behind his book, and heard Theo snort softly. Harry wasn't sure how Draco had ended up in Slytherin, he was about as subtle and sly as a brink. Maybe it was purely on his need to prove himself. Harry's long conversation with the sorting hat had proven to him that there were more than the one or two 'traditional' aspects that separated the houses. That was a thought for later though, and Harry turned his attention back to the book on Flamel.

Two hours later Harry closed the book with a snap, letting it fall to rest on his chest. He stared up at the ceiling, mind racing. Jareth had said that the only thing in the vault was a stone of unknown properties. Nicolas Flamel was the only person to ever manage to create a Sorcerer's Stone. The legendary stone that could extend a mortal life and turn metal into gold. The conclusion was obvious. He stood, and Theo looked up from the couch. "I'm just going to grab a piece of parchment."

Theo studied his face for a second, before pulling one from his stack and handing it over, "You're going to tell me about this later."

Theo's voice was steady, not a question, and Harry bit his lip, but nodded. He tilted his his head to the side as an idea came to him, "Are you going home for the holidays?"

One of Theo's expressive eyebrows came up, "Not if I can help it."

Harry nodded once, "You'll come home with me. I'll explain everything then."

Theo blinked in surprise but seemed pleased. "I'll write home and ask if it's okay. They'll be fine with it."

Harry smiled, grabbing a quill and starting to script a letter home.


	5. Letters

AN: Sorry about the long wait guys. I'm a little lost about where to go with this.

_Dear Mom and Dad, _

_I've found a whole book on Nicolas Flamel. It turns out that he's a famous wizard because he invented something called the Sorcerer's Stone. It's supposed to make lead into gold and is the main ingredient for the Elixir of Life potion, which makes the drinker life forever. He's over 600 years old, which is apparently extremely long lived for a wizard. No doubt due to drinking his Elixir. He and his wife live in Devon apparently. I hope that's enough to help you find him, his actual location is kept pretty secret, I think this is the most exact I'll be able to be. _

_I've invited my friend Theo to come home with me for Christmas. I trust him to be on my side. He's told me about his own secret. He says he doesn't mind if I tell you guys since you'll need to know. Theo's Dad was a Death Eater. One of Voldemort's followers. He bought his freedom from the wizard government after the war. Apparently it took nearly all their money and now they're holding on to their status by the skin of their teeth. _

_Status seems like an odd thing to the Wizards. It's really important. Draco Malfoy thinks he has the most of it, I'm not sure why. I guess his father is on the school board, but I've done a lot of research and I can't see how that would matter. One board member here doesn't have that much power, from what I've read in the books about the school. There's seven of them and they all have equal votes. Draco also seems to mention how much money his family has. He taunts one of the Gryffindor boys a lot about his family is so poor and Draco's family is so wealthy. It seems really stupid to me. I mean it's good for his parents I guess but doesn't mean he's special! We're eleven. I don't think anyone has any money. Just another weird thing about Wizards I guess._

_Classes are going well. Potions was really odd. Professor Snape went around to each desk and commented on our work. He was very rude to the Gryffindors. I think it's a weird kind of revenge. The wizards don't seem to trust or like Slytherin very much. We had an odd run in with a prefect from Ravenclaw when we were going to Astronomy class Wednesday night..._

The letter Harry finally gave to Hedwig was so long she had to get a school owl to take one end. Harry looked around the owlry, making sure he was alone, before he pulled a small mirror from his pocket and expanded it with a flick of his wrist. His homesickness was so bad that the mirror wavered to show Below before Harry even said anything.

Hedwig and the school owl flew through as soon as the image steadied. Harry stood for a moment and watched them wing towards the sand castle. Above one tower he could just see a flying purple flag that meant a mortal was running the labyrinth. He sighed softly to himself, before forcing the mirror to clear.

Harry was used to running the labyrinth alongside the mortals. Depending on their attitudes he would help or hinder. In his five years of helping he'd only once helped. Most people who ended up in the labyrinth deserved all of its tricks.

He shook off the bit of wistfulness that had hit him and shrunk the mirror back down by spinning it end over end until it was the correct size.

Oooooo

The first two months of classes followed the pattern set in the first week. Draco Malfoy continued to be rude while insisting he wasn't. Professor Snape continued to mock the Gryffindors and pamper the Slytherins while ignoring Harry completely. The rest of the school continued to watch Harry so intently that his skin occasionally crawled. He began to fondly wish for the-thing-with-all-the-eyes, which at least had never whispered just out of the range of his hearing.

The school seemed divided about what to think about him. Some, like Turpin, thought that Harry had ended up in Slytherin because he hadn't known any better. Harry got used to hearing the phrase, "hatstall" which turned out to be what they called it when the sorting hat took a while to make a decision. Harry would have told them that he'd been having fun and the hat let him decide where to go, but no one actually ever asked. Each house seemed to be equally sure that their house was the other option the hat had been mulling over.

Other students seemed convinced that his sorting meant he was a dark wizard in the making. "It would take a lot of power to defeat You-Know-Who. And he was just a baby!" someone whispered from behind a stack of book in mid-October. Harry looked up with a sigh and caught Theo's amused smirk.

"We can hear you." Theo said, clearly extremely amused.

There was a soft "eep!" and the sound of two people running away. Theo's eyes were practically dancing with merriment but Harry was not in the mood to be amused.

"They're driving me crazy."

Theo clearly made an effort to control his amusement but failed, "Poor famous Harry Potter. Too much attention for you?"

Harry scowled at him, but couldn't hold his annoyance in the face of Theo's amusement. "I just wish they'd pick a side. If they want to be afraid of me fine, if they want to -"

"Worship you?" Theo offered dryly.

Harry rolled his eyes, "_whatever_ they want to do I wish they'd do it from further away." Harry decided talking about it made it worse, and changed the subject, "Are you done with your potions essay? What book did you use?"

Theo snorted softly but went with the subject change, and pushed over _Four thousand and one magical herbs_ which would have kept all the bookworms Below fed for ten years.

Just as Harry started flipping through Hedwig soared in, landing hard on his shoulder. "Ow!" he protested, but gave her one of his always present owl treats anyway. She took it with a click of her beak and stuck out her leg. The letter attached bore the scarlet ink that Jareth loved. Harry frowned at it. Owls were supposed to only deliver mail at mealtimes. Except in emergencies. Harry looked up to see Theo looked as nervous as he felt. "It's from my Dad."

Harry realized with a guilty jolt that his Below mirror was in his bookbag and had been all morning. If Jareth had been trying to contact him through it he wouldn't have been able to hear.

He slit the letter open immediately.

_Harry,_

_This morning Dumbledore had a meeting with Professor Snape. In this meeting he warned the professor to 'keep an eye on Quirrell". This is the first time he's made such a request though Professor Snape seemed unsurprised by the request and did not ask for clarification._

_We do not know why Dumbledore is weary of Quirrell. We have all but confirmed that the reason the third floor is closed off is because Dumbledore is holding the Philosopher's Stone. Surely many forces would want to get their hands on it._

_From what you've said the followers of your parents' murderer would love to bring the man back to life. Your mother has began to attend wizarding events Above so she can learn more. Apparently there is a large number of people who believe that Voldemort was never fully defeated. There is a possibility that it is his forces who are after the stone. In order to bring the man back to full life. _

_Your mother and I are concerned. Please desist with this effort to live Above with the wizards and come home._

_I know you will not._

_So be safe. And keep an eye on Quirrell and an eye on Dumbledore._

_And for the love of glass boy, keep your mirror to hand!_

_Love,_

_Your father_

The letter filled Harry with a cold sick feeling. A part of him - a large part - wanted to do what areth asked. The homesickness that had affected him since arriving showed no signs of weakening. It would be easy to decide go give up and go home.

Too easy.

He folded the letter back up, and it instantly rolled itself into a ball and turned to glass. Theo blinked at it. Harry didn't notice his friend's amazement though, thoughts wound up around this new worry.

Quirrell was the Defense teacher and Harry had found him ineffectual but inoffensive. His stutter made him slightly difficult to understand, and he seemed terrified of the subject he was teaching. But he was far more interesting than Binns and his spells were more useful to Harry than the things they were learning in Transfiguration. He showed no house bias, which was rather refreshing, as every other teacher were markedly suspicious or pandering to the Slytherins.

"Is something wrong at home?" Theo asked, interrupting Harry's train of thought.

Harry looked up, realizing that he'd been fidgeting with the glass sphere, making it dance between his fingers. Theo was watching his fingers move with interest. "No. Dad just learned something concerning. Do you know anything about that third floor corridor that will lead to our messy deaths?"

Theo raised an eyebrow at Harry's seeming subject change, but went with it without comment. "Not much more than what he said at the welcome feast. Draco was all up in arms a week ago because his father wouldn't tell him what it was."

Harry looks up in interest, "The governors know about it?"

Theo gave him a slightly aggrieved look, "You were there when Draco was talking about it." Harry didn't remember that, and shook his head, Theo huffed slightly, "Draco was convinced his father would not stand for Dumbledore putting him in danger, or at least let him in on the great secret. He was embarrassed in the middle of breakfast last week when all he got was a letter telling him to mind his own business."

Harry smiled a little, amused. He began spinning the ball of glass again, over and around to the back of his hand where it spun itself cheerily for a moment, "Dad overheard something about Quirrell. He thinks he's after whatever they're hiding in there." Harry began to flick his wrist to bounce the spinning ball on the back of his hand.

Theo stared at at the spinning bouncing glass ball, and eventually turned away, pretending not to be fascinated. "Quirrell? I suppose incompetence is a good way to throw people off the trail."

Harry sighed softly, and caught the ball in his palm on the next bounce, before rolling his fingers and disappearing it into his bag. Theo did not react to the use of wandless silent magic. He was rather used to it at this point. "Yeah. Maybe he's in on it with Binns. You done? It's almost dinner."

Theo shut his book and rolled up his scroll as Harry did the same. They left the library together, both considering what Quirrell might be up to.

As soon as they were gone Snape stepped out from behind the next bookshelf. The look on his face was enough to insure that no students approached him through dinner.


	6. Severus

A/N: I haven't really been able to figure out how to mention this, but Jareth fixed Harry's eyes while he was growing up. I'm pretty sure there are no optometrists Below. A few lines from this chapter were taken from 'The Prince's Tale' from Deathly Hallows.

ooooo

When Severus Snape sat down for the welcoming feast there were two things he was absolutely sure of about the coming year. The first was that Harry Potter would make his life a living hell. He was sure to be just arrogant, useless and dangerous as his father. The second was that Albus Dumbledore was not to be trusted. But that had been true for a very long time.

Severus Snape was convinced that Harry Potter would turn out to be a shorter James. His first glance at the boy had convinced him that he was correct. The messy black hair, the way he looked around the room as if he owned it - but then he'd turned and his green eyes had pierced through Severus's simmering anger like an ice shard. Harry did not wear glasses like James had. His eyes, their shape and color, were Lily's almost exactly. It had nearly made him gasp aloud. Albus had mentioned the boy's eyes, on that long ago Halloween night. Severus had never quite been able to picture it. In all honesty, his mental images of Lily had faded with time. He couldn't quite remember what shade of red her hair was, or how long it had been. Once he would have been able to recount to the millimeter the pattern of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Now he couldn't even recall the sound of her voice. Having her eyes back in front of him, looking into him, considering him, froze him in his chair.

It was a full two minutes before he could convince himself to pull his gaze away from the boy. He realized that he'd been concentrating solely on the boy's father so he wouldn't be reminded about the death of the boy's mother. It was easier to think of the boy as James Potter's orphan than the son of Lily. Which was illogical since Lily was the only reason he was protecting the boy in the first place. But Severus had never claimed to be logical.

He didn't want to think about the fact that Lily was dead. And confronting her orphan son at every meal was more than he could handle. So Harry couldn't be Lily's orphan. He was James's son. It was a form of denial, but Severus didn't care. The loss of Lily - first at the end of fifth year, and then again with her death - was like a wound that never healed. He would be in denial if it lessened the flow of blood from the wound even slightly.

But the boy's eyes destroyed every hope of that two minutes into the welcome feast. And Severus felt that wound open up again with a sharp tear in his chest.

A while later, as the boy stood to make his way to the Slytherin table Severus had his second shock of the night. A Potter in Slytherin. More than that, Severus realized as the whispering in the hall began to ramp up, the Boy Who Lived in Slytherin. He looked down the table to see Dumbledore's sparkling eyes were no longer sparkling, and slightly narrowed as he watched the boy sit at his new house table. Of course, Severus thought, with a heavy layering of bitterness, because everyone knew slimy Slytherins weren't to be trusted with the fate of the Wizarding world.

He glanced at the boy one last time, before forcing his concentration to shift elsewhere.

ooooo

Having Potter in his house was an interesting kind of torture. Looking at him had a fifty fifty chance of reminding Severus of James or Lily, and depending on which way the coin flipped Severus was either filled with that soul tearing grief or rage. It was exhausting. He resolved to not react to the boy until his emotions had leveled out.

It was disconcerting. He was used to being in complete control of his emotions. He was used to being in complete control of _himself_. The stupid Potter family was his downfall. All three of them.

Two weeks after the start of classes Albus wandered into his classroom at the end of the day. He smiled his kindly absentminded grandfather smile and Severus had to resist the urge scoff. "Headmaster. How can I help you?"

Albus's smile widened just slightly and he nodded, "I must compliment you on your lock to our vault Severus. Very well done."

Severus controlled the urge to roll his eyes by beginning to clear his desk, piling essays into 'to grade' and 'return' piles. "I do try Headmaster. Though again, I think tempting him with three of the things he wants most in one building is nothing but foolishness."

Albus seemed not to hear him. He hadn't seemed to hear him any of the other times Severus had made the same protest over the summer either. "Have your classes started off well?"

Severus considered dancing around the subject for a while longer, but it had been a long day. The Weasley twins, while brilliant, enjoyed explosions more than Slytherins, and those classes always left Severus with a ringing head. "Potter is doing well. He's made friends with Theodore Nott. My prefects tell me that he doesn't tend to get involved in inter-house rivalries. Indeed he doesn't even seem to realize that these power plays are happening around him. Draco seems to be confused about if he should be rivals or friends. I do not understand how that boy got into my house."

Albus linked his fingers behind his back and rocked on his heels, and hummed thoughtfully. Severus knew that this was a cue for him to ask what Albus was thinking about. He decided not to take the cue, feeling extremely contrary. Albus rocked on his feet again, hummed again. Severus finished separating his papers, and put the things he had to grade into his bag and shouldered it.

"I wonder…" Albus mussed meditatively, staring vacantly into the corner.

Good God. Why didn't the man just say what he'd come to say? But Severus had had 10 years to learn the inner workings of Albus's mind. He may have been slightly wrong about Potter, but he was right about Albus. The man had four reasons for coming down here but none of those reasons had anything to do with Severus or Potter's health or well being. Severus knew that in the very center of his bones. Albus Dumbledore was no man's champion, because he'd sacrifice any one or dozen for his plans for the 'greater good'.

"Albus. It has been a long day. Get to the point or get out."

"Hmmm?" Albus seemed to shake himself out of his meditative contemplation, and smiled genially at Severus, "Oh nothing," as if Severus had gone along and asked what he was thinking, "just how interesting it is. Both of Harry's parents were in Gryffindor. Odd isn't it?"

Severus snorted, "The Patil twins are in two separate houses. If genetics determined house allegiance, this would be a much different place. And as I've always said," Severus twirled his wand to send the sample jars into their carrying cases, which snapped shut with what he figured was appropriate dramatic punctuation, "it's the nurture, not the nature." And Albus was the one who had carefully situated things so Potter had been put where he wanted him, getting the nurture Albus thought was appropriate. "You never did reveal who he ended up with. A Slytherin family were they?"

Severus knew they weren't. Albus would never have trusted a Slytherin with the boy. Albus tended not to trust anyone slyer than himself. Albus had never revealed where the boy spent his childhood. Severus had had many theories over the years, but none of them turned out to be correct. He couldn't deny that not knowing was like having a rock stuck in his shoe. He poked Albus with it whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Albus quirked a vacant smile and didn't answer, "It's good to know you're keeping a close eye on him."

Severus didn't respond, "If that's all headmaster, I must be going."

Albus gave him a disappointed look that didn't sway Severus at all. He remembered the night he'd come to Albus to save Lily. He remembered what Albus had said. He knew, had always known, what Albus thought of him. The old man tried to pretend to have some sort of fatherly concern for him these days, but that didn't change anything.

Any other day he might have gone along with it. Obediently parroted his lines in the little plays Albus wrote. But he found today he had no patience for it. He shouldered the bag with the marking in it and grabbed the case of potions jars. He walked towards Albus, flicking his wand absently to lower the lights in the classroom. Albus stood his ground a moment, light blue eyes scanning Severus up and down. Severus made sure to put his exhaustion in the forefront of his mind, along with the throbbing headache from the Weasley's explosion du jour. He quieted all the resentful thoughts about Albus's manipulations, and focused only on his daily annoyances. He suspected that Albus's Legilimency was subtle enough that he didn't feel it any more. Even if Albus wasn't reading his mind, the change would be reflected in his body language. It was good practice. Severus hadn't survived this long without a healthy dose of cautious suspicion.

Albus smiled softly after a moment, "Of course my boy. You've had a long day." He swept out of the way, and Severus moved passed him to the hallway, keeping his exhaustion and annoyance forefront in his mind until he'd closed the door to his living quarters behind him.

oooooo

It was a week before Halloween when he was summoned to Albus's office early in the morning. He ate breakfast slowly, carefully rearranging his thoughts to suit him best. He suppressed the moments of fondness he'd had for the Potter boy, and brought the irritation and rage to the forefront. His misgivings and suspicions of Albus were placed at the very back of his mind, behind his nearly entirely manufactured awe of the man. His love for Lily, and the guilt he felt about her went to the front, and he covered it all with a shaky shield of fake emotionlessness.

Severus knew that Albus overestimated his own abilities. He'd think Severus's occlumency was no match for his amazing power long before he'd suspect that Severus was actually better than him. It was a double bluff, since shielding himself this way was not as protective as shielding himself completely. But he knew that putting a solid shield in front of Albus Dumbledore would be like waving a flag in front of a bull. A false trail to lessen Albus's suspicions was a better plan than possibly instigating a confrontation.

Albus smiled at him genially as Severus entered the room. "Ah. Severus. Thank you for meeting with me."

Severus linked his hands behind his back, "Of course headmaster. What did you want to discuss?"

"Harry Potter."

Severus curled his lip in disgust, "As far as I am concerned, headmaster, there is nothing to discuss. I have no idea how he ended up in my house, he's just as arrogant and Gryffindor-ish as his good-for-nothing father. He's a mediocre student, absolutely delighted with his fame, attention-seeking and impertinent -"

Albus smiled, oddly fond, "Ah Severus. You see what you expect to see. Other teachers report that the boy is modest, likable, and reasonably talented."

Severus rolled his eyes, "Well then let's resort him, and he can be Minerva's problem, as he was meant to be."

Albus laughed softly, "Ah Severus, if only we could." Albus began rooting around his desk, and pulled up a copy of _Transfiguration Today_, flipping it open casually. Severus understood that this was the real object of this meeting, "Keep an eye on Quirrell for me."

The command hung there in the air for a long moment. Severus absorbed it behind his shaky shield, and began considering it. Quirrell was acting very strange since his return from sabbatical. Before his trip he'd been an enthusiastic if odd Muggle Studies professor. He had the same skewed view of Muggles as all wizards did, but he'd never been anti-Muggle. Now he was constantly terrified, and had developed a stutter. Severus had wondered about the change, but hadn't cared enough to investigate when Harry Potter was there to distract him. It seemed Albus saw something much more sinister in Quirrell's abrupt personality change. This was concerning, since Quirrell had placed one of the 'locks' on Albus's 'vault'. From what Severus had heard about the other locks, they would turn easily enough. It was his and Albus's standing in the way. He'd known that from the beginning. If Quirrell was after the stone, he would come to Severus to figure out how to get it. The question was if Quirrell was after the stone for his own gain or if he'd been co-opted by Voldemort. That was who the bait was for after all, the trap would be wasted on a self serving defense professor.

So Albus was putting his best agent on it. Severus nodded once, shortly, "Of course headmaster. Is that all?"

Albus smiled again, genial to the last, "Yes. Have a nice day Severus."

ooooo

He went to the library that afternoon because he knew Quirrell tended to spend the fifth class block in the defense stacks. He made his way to the defense section, ending up in the aisle behind the table that Quirrell had staked out. Quirrell hadn't arrived yet, so Severus looked around, trying to figure out the best way to camouflage himself. There were lamps at the end and middle of each aisle of shelves, a quick flick of his wand had the one in the middle of his chosen aisle sputtering out, and another wave stopped the notification charm attached to the flame from reaching Madame Pince. A few taps on his robes and the melted easily into the shadows. It was one of his favorite spells for night patrols of the halls.

Quirrell arrived ten minutes after Severus had settled in. He selected ten books of different subjects, most on dark charms and curses, but one on dark plants. Severus sighed silently. He'd discovered Sprout's lock then. Six weeks after the start of school, Severus was mildly surprised it had taken the man even that long. Nothing more of interest happened, though Severus watched him until loud whispers from behind him nearly startled him into jumping. Quirrell also heard them, looking up from his books with surprisingly sharp narrowed eyes, before they melted into his usual mildly panicked look.

"It would take a lot of power to defeat You-Know-Who. And he was just a baby!" Severus recognized the voice of a particularly dull fourth year Ravenclaw. It sounded like they were in the aisle right behind his own. Quirrell began packing up his books, re-shelving them quickly and departing. Severus considered following him, but the voice of Theo Nott stopped him cold.

"We can hear you." The girl, and her unknown companion made a sound of embarrassed surprise and immediately departed. Severus rolled his eyes, and began removing the spells from the aisle.

"They're driving me crazy." That was Potter's voice. Severus rolled his eyes as he relit the lamp. The two boys discussed the school's obsession with Potter with amusement on Nott's side and what sounded like annoyance on Potter's. Severus didn't believe this act towards modesty. Who wouldn't want to be the famous darling of the wizarding world after all?

Just as he'd finished taking the shadow spell off his robes, and owl flew over head. Potter's short 'ow' made it obvious that the bird was his. Severus stopped. A letter from home in the middle of the day was not good news. "It's from my Dad." Potter said, and Severus's first reaction was confusion. Could James Potter have sent a letter from beyond the grave? Possibly he'd sent something up with the goblins to be delivered when his son was 11? But that didn't make sense, it was the middle of October, not the boy's birthday. Gringotts would not make that mistake. Maybe he'd left a letter with the wolf? Though that didn't make sense either. Everyone had been sure that the wolf was the leak at that time. No one would have trusted him to deliver a post-death letter to the child.

Severus needed to see this letter. He recast the shadow spell, and silenced his footsteps as he moved into the aisle the two gossips had vacated. He moved a few books from the shelf in front of him to get a view of the table where Potter and Nott were sitting. Potter was reading a short scroll, but was faced towards Severus, so he couldn't see what was on it. He could see half the seal though, and Potter's name scrawled upside down. The seal and the ink were red, not the Potter colors. The seal also didn't have the Potter crest on it.

That's when Severus realized that when Potter said 'Dad' he wasn't referring to James Potter. He was referring to whoever raised him. The realization was one that tilted Severus's entire world on it's axis. He realized, suddenly, that Harry Potter would have no memories of his parents. He would know only whatever his mysterious caretakers had told him. And what he'd heard since arriving here. Severus himself knew more about the boy's parents than the boy himself ever would.

"Is something wrong at home?" Nott's voice interrupted Severus's epiphany. He shook his head, burying the realization to think about later. He needed to pay close attention to absorb everything he could.

He absorbed every nuance of the conversation, shocked when the letter transfigured itself into a seemingly solid glass ball. That kind of casual use of power was a hallmark of a highly powerful wizard. The shocks kept coming as Potter revealed his father knew enough to be suspicious of Quirrell. What had the man overheard and where? And Potter was amazingly good at juggling the glass ball. He had to be using some wandless magic to be balancing it.

Potter and Nott packed up quickly, leaving Severus with a mountain of questions and the certainty that he had been very wrong about Harry Potter.


	7. Halloween

A/N: Sorry for the long wait between chapters. I don't exactly have any kind of plan for this story, so it was hard for me to figure out what came next. Anyway, the middle pages of this chapter are brought to you by the fact that I can't even tell you how much it annoys me that during Halloween in the books no one ever is like, 'oh yeah, Harry's parents were brutally murdered on this day, hope he's alright'.

ooooo

Harry took Jareth's warning to heart.

He was very careful to never be alone with Quirrell. He and Theo were the first out the door as soon as Defense class ended, and they avoided that floor like the plague during free periods.

Meanwhile it seemed that with the first two months of classes nearly over, whatever grace period the first years had was ending. Teachers stopped giving warnings when students were late and started deducting points. In Slytherin house the true nature of the house's inner workings began to unfold.

Slytherin was a house of favors and trades. Money ruled, but influence and power had their own not insignificant presence. Harry had the extreme luck to have two out of three. He began, slowly, to understand his role in Wizarding society by listening and reading. He'd brought down the most powerful dark wizard in a century when he was only a year old. In his absence he'd become the de facto newest light lord. Some of the Slytherin students acted like they knew Harry was royalty, giving him small gifts and complimenting him. They offered Harry help with homework, but with such sickeningly sweet smiles that he felt obligated to decline. Harry learned though quick observation that people always had to be weary in the Slytherin house. One fifth year was railroaded into playing for the Qudditch team, which she clearly didn't want to do, because of a promise she'd made her first year to someone who was now in seventh. People quickly learned that Harry liked clear deals with no promises too far off into the future. He didn't accept help or favors from people unless he knew what he was supposed to give them in return. He did trade an autographed photo of himself to a fifth year for directions to the kitchen, and the promise of a personal letter of recommendation to a seventh year he liked for the secret of the Come and Go Room.

Other house members clearly resented him. He learned pretty quickly which of the students he should never go near. They sneered at him obviously and nearly violently. He mostly ignored this behavior, but perhaps because he did, they got more aggressive. Harry learned quickly not to leave his bookbag in the common room alone. The first time someone just upended it, the second they'd strewn the contents around the common room, his herbology book ended up in the fire. He tried not to let it bother him, but it was harder than he thought it would be. He'd just quietly gathered his books, leaving the Herbology book to burn, and retreated to the library, Theo hot on his heels.

Harry and Theo spent as much time as they could in the library or empty classrooms. It was too cold to spend much time outside, but they went out there as well if they could. Luckily for Harry Theo was a generally cheerful person, and seemed to find their general avoidance of the common room more amusing than annoying. Harry sometimes got the feeling that Theo was just so happy to have a friend he didn't care what challenges came with it. Whatever the reason he was grateful for Theo's silent support.

With their self imposed isolation they barely realized it was Halloween until the actual day. Halloween was not a holiday Below. Harry hadn't known what Theo was talking about when he started telling him enthusiastic stories about the holiday feast. Harry had only ever thought of October 31st as the anniversary of his parents' death, but it turned out the 31st was a holiday Above, about the barriers between different worlds being thinned.

Jareth had explained to him when he was very young about his adoption. He'd told Harry about his parents and how they'd died facing a bad wizard. Traditionally on the 31st, the two of them (and Sarah, when she came) took the time to think about Harry's parents. Some years Jareth was busy in the labyrinth with multiple runners, but no matter what they always took time to light a candle, for as far back as Harry could remember. It was a melancholy sort of day for Harry. Everyone was excited though, and cheerfully tossing candy to each other through the halls.

(Harry thought Halloween was a pretty odd holiday - what did free candy have to do with the walls between worlds being thinner?)

He was pretty quiet that morning, and didn't do his usual production of mediocrity in Transfiguration, changing his beetle into a button with barely a thought. Theo shot him some nervous looks, but seemed to know what was bothering Harry without asking. But then, Harry supposed, everyone did. During their post lunch study period Harry told Theo that he probably wouldn't go to that evening's feast. Theo grimaced in sympathy, "Maybe - maybe it'll be good. It could take your mind off of things."

Harry blew out a breath, and tapped his quill against the table anxiously. "I've never even celebrated Halloween before! You had to tell me what it was. It feels…" Harry hesitated, before forcing himself to finish the sentence, "wrong to celebrate today."

Theo pursed his lips, clearly considering what to say. "What do you usually do?"

Harry shrugged, grimacing as he shattered the tip of his quill with a particularly hard tap, he tossed it away with a sigh, leaning back in his chair, "Nothing really. We have a quiet dinner. Dad shows me some pictures of them. We don't have many." He wasn't lying, they didn't have _any _pictures of his parents, Jareth could and did pull images onto mirrors, but they were usually fuzzy and odd, since the subjects were dead. Harry couldn't really explain how Jareth pulled images of his parents to the mirrors to Theo though, so he'd have to be okay with a small lie. "We light a candle and say something nice."

Theo smiled softly, "Sounds nice. We can see if we can get a candle."

Harry brightened a bit, grateful for the offer, "From where do you think?"

Theo shrugged and began packing up his bookbag, "Let's ask Professor Snape."

Professor Snape's office was three corridors over and one hall to the left of their common room. It was a small office, with jars of potions ingredients on the dark stone walls. Harry was torn between fascination and disgust, and drifted closer to one jar full of a luminous green fluid that reminded him of the Bog's runoff. He reached out for it just as the door to Professor Snape's living quarters opened and the man appeared. He raised an eyebrow, and Harry guiltily snatched his hand away from the jar, and smiled. "Good afternoon sir."

The professor hummed softly in acknowledgement, and crossed his arms over his chest, "Mr. Nott, Mr. Potter. Is there a problem?"

He asked the question with his eyes on Harry, and Harry considered, for a moment, telling the man about the problems in the house, including his burnt Herbology text. But he dismissed that thought almost immediately. "No. No problem. I was just hoping that I could maybe get a candle from you. Or if you knew where I could get one."

Professor Snape looked at him unblinkingly for a long moment, before gesturing to the two seats in front of his desk. He took his own seat, and steepled his fingers on the desk, "Why do you need a candle?"

Harry looked over at Theo, and then back to Professor Snape, feeling a little nervous. Professor Snape was naturally intimidating, like Jareth could be at times. He cleared his throat, "It's a tradition. My father and I always light a candle today, to remember the Potters."

It seemed like Professor Snape's eyes narrowed at that, and Harry blinked in surprise. But when he reopened his eyes Professor Snape seemed perfectly normal. Maybe it was a weird trick of the eerie light down here. Professor Snape pulled his hands apart and grabbed a parchment scroll of his desk. He unrolled it, glanced at it, and rerolled it. He pulled his wand out then, and circled it around the parchment, which obligingly shrank, and turned to wax. He then pressed the tip of his wand to the very center, and a wick grew out of the new candle.

Harry watched the display, enraptured. That was the kind of imagining - transfiguration - that he'd been hoping to learn. All goblin children learned basic imaginings, imagining something to be lighter than it was, imaging something small was something else small. But when you got to the point of changing something small into something large or something that burned into something that didn't, it got harder. One of Harry's goblin friends had attempted to imagine a piece of paper into a log when he'd run out of firewood. The shape had changed, but the weight hadn't, and when he'd lit it, it had burned fast, like paper, burning to ash in about thirty seconds.

When Professor Snape handed him the new candle Harry could feel the weight of it, the slick feeling of wax. When he touched the wick it bent and flexed like it should. He knew that it would burn like a candle, and not a piece of paper. "Thank you sir." He touched the wick again, "How do you do that?"

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow again, leaning back a bit in the chair, "Magic Mr. Potter. That is why we're all here."

Harry looked up, surprised at the joke. The professor's face looked the same as normal, but Harry could see the smallest curl in the corner of his mouth. He laughed in response, and smiled wide, "Right. Of course. Well. Thank you sir. I really appreciate it."

Professor Snape nodded once, "It was no trouble Mr. Potter. I am here to make sure that my students have a comfortable time at Hogwarts."

Harry nodded, but then stopped, thinking about his potions class from last week. Professor Snape had once again been extremely unfair to the Gryffindor students, in a way that made Harry extremely uncomfortable. Harry was aware that the world was unfair - his father had made that very clear when he'd been very young - but Harry had always taken that to mean that people had to try extra hard to be fair to other people. Theo, anticipating that they were done, began to rise from his chair. "Can I ask you a question?" Harry asked, and Theo plopped back down with a sigh.

The professor looked back and forth between them, before inclining his head at Harry. Harry thought for a second about how to word his question, and started hesitantly, "I've noticed that in class …" he hesitated for a moment, and flicked a glance to Theo. Theo's eyes were wide with surprise. "Well Neville Longbottom is a friend of mine. And I just don't understand why…"

Professor Snape stood then, rather abruptly, cutting Harry off mid sentence. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest and looked down his nose at Harry, dark eyes glittering. "If that is all Mr. Potter."

Harry could take a hint, "Uh. Yes sir." He pocketed the candle and he and Theo made their way quickly out of the room.

ooooo

Harry and Theo lit the candle together at the top of the Astronomy tower. Harry was tempted to open up his mirror to talk to his parents, but figured he should wait. October 31st was always a labyrinth day Below. Maybe he'd talk to them tomorrow.

They spent about five minutes watching the flame against the darkening sky. Harry thought about the Potters, and all that they'd given up for him. He realized that he was probably standing on the same place where they had once stood, and something swelled in his chest.

Coming to Hogwarts had been the right choice. He'd known it.

As the two boys trooped back down the stairs Theo kept shooting Harry anxious looks, until finally Harry sighed, unable to stop himself from smiling. "Alright, I'll come to the banquet thing."

"Yay!" Theo said, jumping excitedly. He calmed himself down almost immediately, but didn't stop grinning, "You'll like it. I promise it's supposed to be really fun."

"It better be!"

ooooo

True to Theo's word, the feast was lots of fun. The girls found some pelting candies, tiny sugar coated things that, if thrown at someone, would continually hit the person until they were caught and eaten. It took less than thirty seconds for everyone to agree to toss them at Draco whenever he said 'my father'.

By the middle of the meal it looked like he was trapped in a multicolored snow storm. Vince and Greg calmly picked candies out of the air and ate them while Draco scowled at them all.

Harry was enjoying himself immensely. It was so similar to parties that the goblins had. Between this and the candle earlier, his homesickness was finally getting to be less.

Of course, it couldn't last. Harry was just helping himself to a potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached the teacher's table, slumped against it, and gasped, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know."

He fell over in a dead faint.

The uproar was instant. Harry had jumped to his feet, fear tingling through him. Trolls were horrible stupid destroyers. One had attacked the outer village Below when Harry was eight, while Jareth had been away. It had managed to take out four homes and kill two goblins before the others had tricked him into the labyrinth. Jareth had been angry enough, when he returned, to leave it in there.

Purple fireworks exploded overhead, stopping Harry's frantic thoughts and quieting everyone else.

"Prefects," Dumbledore rumbled, "lead your House back to the dormitories immediately!"

The three other houses rose immediately. Harry turned automatically to Gemma, who was staring at the other prefects. All of them looked lost. Harry knew they were all thinking the same thing. The troll was in the dungeons. So was their dorm. He looked to the head table, hoping Professor Snape was still there and could tell them what to do. But he, and the other professors, were already gone.

Finally Melody, one of the seventh year prefects, huffed in disgust. "Well. Let's go."

They moved slowly out of the hall, Melody in the lead with the first years, followed by everyone else. Perhaps it was the nature of Slytherins, or they were all just terrified, but they were all silent as they crept through the halls.

Melody stopped sharply at the steps down to the dungeon. Harry, who'd been following close on her heels, ran right into her. She turned to face him, looking ready to start yelling, but pulled herself up short when she realized who he was. Harry took a hesitant step back as Melody's eyes focused on his scar. She looked at him for a long moment, before smiling slowly.

Harry opened his mouth to ask why she'd stopped, but was interrupted when she grabbed his arm tightly, and turned to the left, down the corridor the Hufflepuffs always went, instead of down the dungeon steps. There was a whisper of confused hesitation behind them, but when Harry looked back everyone was following gamely, looking relieved. They turned right after they passed the entrance to the kitchens, and ended up in a small recess with a pile of barrels. "Which one is it again, Grant?"

The other seventh year prefect, a small man with dreadlocks, pushed towards the front of the group. "Middle of the second row. Are you sure about this?"

Melody grinned, just a bit sharply, "I'm not going to ask." She tugged Harry's arm pointedly, "He is."

Understanding hit Harry with a nearly audible click. The Slytherins could not ask another house for help. Not even the Hufflepuffs, who were the nicest. They would be treated, en masse like this, with nothing but suspicion and hostility. But Harry, the light's saviour, would be welcomed by the other houses with open arms. And the Hufflepuffs would respect the loyalty he showed by asking them to shelter the other Slytherins with him. He stepped forward quickly, towards the barrel Grant had indicated, combing his hair back with his fingers as he did to better display his scar, "What's the password?"

Melody scrutinized him for a moment, something like pride or satisfaction crossing her face when she realized he'd figured out what he was supposed to do. He smiled at her in response. "No password. Tap on the barrell to the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff."

Harry raised an eyebrow but did as asked. At the last tap that barrell, and the four adjoining, slid up, revealing a large den like hole. There was a moment of silence before a tall blonde boy moved into view gazing out at them. He blinked twice when he saw Harry, and moved closer, "Harry Potter?"

"Uh yes." Harry said, playing up his natural awkwardness only slightly, "I'm really sorry to bother you guys. But Dumbledore sent us all back to our dorms. Only our dorm is _in_ the dungeons. And I really don't think it's safe for us to go down there. I was hoping that maybe you could let me stay here? And my friends of course. Just until it's all over!"

The boy blinked a few times, looking behind him, presumably to the other Hufflepuffs. Behind Harry the Slytherins shifted anxiously. The other prefects, aside from Melody, who was still standing at Harry's side, just out of view of the Hufflepuff burrow, had ranged themselves outside the alcove they were in, keeping anxious eyes on the corridor that led back to the main hall and the entrance to the dungeons.

"Please." Harry said finally, "The hat said Hufflepuff would be great for me." Beside him Melody arched an eyebrow and half smiled in appreciation of this move. He wonders if she thinks he's lying for effect. "I hope you still will, even though I'm wearing green."

The boy looked back at him, eyes even wider. He flicked a glance off to the left twice more before nodding happily, "Come through. All of you. Come on."

Harry grinned, wide and happy, as he climbed through. He clasped the boy's hand warmly when he got his feet under him. "Thank you." He said, meaning it completely. "Really. I don't know how Dumbledore didn't think…" He trailed off, looking around the room.

The Hufflepuff common room is large and warm. There are three fireplaces, burning cheerily, and circular windows set high in the walls. Even though it's well past sunset the windows are bright yellow, which Harry realizes after a moment, is due to the firelight hitting the brass frames and the dandelions that are just on the other side of the glass.

Sleeping in this place must be a nightmare, Harry thinks, as he steps away from the entrance to make room for the Slytherins following after them.

The boy who let them all in follows Harry in closer, "I'm Gabriel Truman, by the way. Sixth year prefect. I'm glad you felt you could come to us."

Harry turns and smiles at him, reaching out to shake his hand again, "Thank you for letting us in."

Gabriel nods, eyes flicking back and forth between Harry's scar and his eyes, almost guiltily. "A bunch of students went up to their bedrooms already. You guys are welcome to hang out here in the common room." He waved at all the plush chairs and couches, "We've got lots of seating, as you can see."

Harry laughed and sank into one couch. Theo joined him after a moment. The rest of the Slytherins filed in silently. A few looked around nervously, but mostly they stood near the wall. Gabriel looked at them nervously, before picking his way over to the armchair next to Harry. "So. How's your first year going so far?"

Melody raised an eyebrow at Harry from her place against the wall. He raised one back and motioned subtly to the other chairs. The corner of her mouth turned down slightly, but, after a moment, she seemed to sigh, and lead the way over to one of the couches. The other Slytherins followed her, until only four or five of the most severe Slytherins remained leaning against the wall. Harry grinned to himself, "Good! I really enjoy Transfiguration."

ooooo

The two houses passed the next two hours with awkward civility. Harry was easily the most popular person to the Hufflepuffs. Once Gabriel had softened the ground four or five other Hufflepuffs came over to ask him questions as well. Unlike some of the Gryffindors Harry had run into, none of the Hufflepuffs had asked any questions about 'that night' ten years ago. They asked harmless questions about how he was enjoying his classes, and, after he brushed off a question as to where he'd grown up, respectfully stayed away from that topic as well.

By the time Professor Sprout poked her head in Harry was beginning to think he might be rather good at diplomacy after all. "Oh!" Professor Sprout was clearly surprised to see the Slytherins in her common room. Seeing the hesitation in her eyes, Melody cleared her throat, and Harry immediately jumped up.

"Professor Sprout! I hope you don't mind. I thought, what with the troll in the dungeon that us going down there might not be a good idea."

She blinked at him for a moment, before smiling widely, practically bounding into the classroom. Harry was abruptly reminded of how she'd grinned at him so wide he thought her face would split the first time she'd called his name in class. "Oh! Good thinking Mr. Potter! Twenty points to Slytherin." She threw a smaller grin to Gabriel and the other Hufflepuffs, "And ten points to Hufflepuff for being good neighbors!" She turned back to Harry, reaching out to clap him on the shoulder, "But we've taken care of the troll. Turned out he'd gotten back upstairs somehow. We led him outside and back to the Forest. Headmaster Dumbledore is working now on figuring out how he'd gotten in."

Sprout led them all back to their dorm, chatting cheerfully the entire time. Harry was fast reaching the end of his energy reserves, and barely kept himself from yawning in her cheerful face. The common room was a welcome relief after the eye searing brightness of the Hufflepuff yellow. Harry began making his way back to his dorm, wanting his bed, but Melody's sharp throat clearing stopped him and everyone else. He turned to look at her, blinking blearily, "House meeting. Now."

Everyone traded glances, but Melody had been the de facto leader of Slytherin house for over a year, and no one wanted to challenge that now. They took seats where ever was closest. Harry folded himself onto the floor where he was standing, yawning wide. Melody folded her hand in front of her, glancing around the room at everyone, "I trust that none of you missed what happened tonight. Without Harry tonight we would have been, as we always are, on our own." A few people traded glances. With the mention of his name Harry sat up a bit straighter, blinking to clear his head. Melody continued, "There are those of you who have expressed your displeasure that Harry Potter is in our house. To which I am forced to ask, do you understand the chance we are presented with here?" Harry blinked at her, unable to see what she was talking about. Everyone else was completely silent. Melody glared around the room, "We all know that Slytherin house has been trapped in a vicious cycle for longer than any of our _parents_ have been alive. A Dark Lord rises from Slytherin house, and the rest of the world paints us all with the same brush. We get insulted and isolated. And another Dark Lord rises from Slytherin house." A few people shifted, but Melody's sharp glare froze them, and she continued, "Whether you find that something to be proud of or not, you cannot deny that the perception of Slytherin as a dark house has adversely affected us, our families and our career prospects. Harry Potter is the child savior of the Wizarding World. In him lies the redemption of Slytherin house. Think about that next time you decide to burn his books." The silence was absolute. Harry felt the glances of multiple people. For a moment this newest responsibility threatened to make him hunch his shoulders. But instead he closed his eyes for half a beat. He opened his eyes to meet Melody's fierce gaze. They stared at each other for a long moment, before Harry inclined his head in acknowledgement, and she flicked her wrist to dismiss them all.

ooooo

A/N: Before anyone asks, Hermione is fine.


	8. Home

A/N: Jeeze you guys really want Hermione to die.

oooooo

Unsurprisingly, Harry didn't sleep well that night. It was bad enough that he had the Goblin Nation depending on him to improve their reputation, now the entire Slytherin house was as well. He tossed and turned fitfully, stomach rolling. Eventually his exhaustion overcame his worry, and he fell unconscious for a few hours, waking when a storm outside caused the lake to began to crash at the windows sometime around six in the morning. Unable to fall back to sleep he got up and grabbed a quill and parchment from his trunk, and walked quietly out to the common room so he didn't wake anyone up. He spent the next few hours writing a letter home. Just putting his thoughts down on paper helped with the stress. A few older students wandered in just as he finished the letter. They gave him some odd looks that made his stomach cramp a bit again, and he quickly got up and went back to his room, where his roommates were just waking up. He quickly went into the bathroom and shut the door. Passing the letter through the mirror to Hoggle took only five seconds, and by the time Blaise opened the door he was already brushing his teeth.

Theo was all dressed and ready for breakfast when Harry finished in the bathroom. Harry tried to smile at him but felt like it came out as a grimace. He got dressed quickly and they headed down to breakfast silently. A few of the Slytherins they passed in the hall glanced at Harry, and whenever they did he felt that roll in his stomach again. Luckily when they got to the Entrance Hall, everyone's focus was on the four house hourglasses that tracked house points. The Gryffindor's hourglass had next to nothing in it. Harry and Theo traded surprised glances, yesterday they had been only about fifty points behind Slytherin. Harry raised an eyebrow at Theo, who rolled his eyes but obligingly shifted next to a Ravenclaw group and asked, "What happened?"

The Ravenclaw looked down at Theo, and then over at Harry, who pretended not to notice. "Apparently the Gryffindor prefects didn't do any kind of headcount. One of the first years had been in the third floor bathroom during the feast," Harry immediately began trying to remember if he'd seen Neville at the feast, frantically hoping the boy was okay. The Ravenclaw girl continued, "and they didn't even know she was missing for like four hours when one of her roommates finally said something." She. Her. So it hadn't been Neville, Harry let out a silent breath of relief. The girl leaned down to Theo and started to whisper, just loud enough for Harry to hear as well. "I heard she's in the hospital ward now because the troll went _right in_ the bathroom she was using! I guess she was smart enough to hide in a stall and the troll wandered back out eventually, but she's totally in shock and, like, hysterical. Anyway, when McGonagall found out she took twenty points from each prefect, and ten points from each of the girl's roommates for not saying something earlier."

Harry knew that there were two prefects in every house for fifth, sixth and seventh years. That was 120 points, and then there was probably about five or six girls in the first year dorm, another 50 or 60 points. It would take them ages to gain those points back. Harry wondered if they even could.

Abruptly the crowd around the hourglasses quieted, Harry craned his neck around to find the cause, and found Professor Snape striding towards him. Harry instinctively straightened a bit. Professor Snape was smirking, very slightly, "Mister Potter. I hear you had the good sense not to take the rest of Slytherin house to the dungeon where the troll was reportedly waiting."

Whispers broke out briefly, but stopped when Professor Snape looked around. Harry swallowed, and finally nodded, "It didn't seem like a good idea sir."

The Professor actually smiled, and Harry blinked. He didn't think he'd ever seen the dour man smile. "Well, thirty points to Slytherin for a demonstration of such logical thinking and clear headedness under pressure. Logical thinking that even your headmasters and professors were not equal to."

Harry felt his face flush. His stomach was rolling again. It was bad enough that the idea hadn't even been his, it'd been Melody's, but Professor Sprout had already given him 20 points last night. Clearly he couldn't say any of that in front of the entire student body though. So he just swallowed and nodded, "Thank you sir."

Snape nods, and sweeps away, his exit undercut by the sound of thirty emeralds falling into the bottom of the Slytherin hourglass. Harry turns to Theo, feeling like he'd like he was about to burst out of his skin. "I'm going to skip breakfast. I'll see you in class."

Theo frowned, "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No." Harry said, quickly, maybe too quickly, because Theo's face did something weird. "No." He repeated again, softer, "I just want to be alone for a few minutes."

Theo nodded acceptance, and Harry quickly raced off, heart pounding. He needed to get away from all these people. Bad enough there was so many of them, but the way they always watched him was beginning to drive him crazy. He needed five seconds to be alone. Completely alone.

Luckily for Harry, he was labyrinth trained, and had been at the school for two full months now. He knew at least four places he could go to hide himself and not be bothered. He went to the empty broom closet behind a painting behind a tapestry in the dungeons. Their first class on Friday was potions, and he wouldn't want to be late. Once safely in the closet he pulled out his hand mirror with hands that he refused to admit were trembling slightly. He briefly considered who to call for, but knew almost immediately who he wanted to talk to.

"Sarah." He whispered, and the image of his own face in the glass wavered, before clearing, with Sarah's face peering out at him.

"Harry!" She cried, joyfully, but then her face immediately twisted into worry when she got a look at him, "Oh, darling. What's wrong?"

"_Everything_." Harry admitted, and spilled out the whole story.

When he finished Sarah was frowning slightly, and pressed her hand to her side of the glass, "Oh darling boy. I'm so sorry. Come through. Just for a minute. I need to give you a hug."

Harry bit his lip, but all he really wanted at the moment was a hug from his mother, so he placed his hand against hers, closed his eyes, and pushed himself through the mirror, making sure to drop his own as he went. As soon as he landed he was swept up into Sarah's arms, and he melted into the embrace happily. He breathed deep, pulling in both Sarah's smell, as well as the smell of Below. Hot sand and violets, fireflowers, the far far away smell of the bog, just enough to remind you it existed. They were in Sarah's private dressing room, and below him he could faintly hear the sounds of some of the goblins singing a song about cleaning the castle. Through the open window he could hear Ludo bellowing to some stones, and the sound of a canon. It was such a relief to be home for a few minutes that Harry felt tears burn in his eyes. He buried his face in Sarah's dress, embarrassed.

Sarah smoothed her hands up and down his back, and started talking after a few minutes of silence, "Your father is dealing with a few runners from yesterday. If we call him up here you can stay as long as you like. I'm sure he wouldn't mind setting time back for you."

Harry shook his head, and, feeling that his tears had dried up, finally pulled away, wiping roughly at his face, "No. I mean, no, I don't want to stay too long. Call him up though, so I can say hi before I go back. I have Potions in a half hour. Everyone's eating breakfast now."

Sarah smiled brightly, and laid her arm over Harry's shoulders, drawing him out of her rooms and down the stairs. "Well you shall have breakfast too then! I know how you're missing your breakfast cabbage. Probably we shouldn't tell any of the goblins you're back though," she said, conspiratorially, "as they may not let you leave again."

Harry summoned up a laugh from somewhere, and followed Sarah to the dining hall.

Ooooooo

For a few minutes breakfast was achingly normal. Sarah had gone in first to distract the goblins by asking them to clean out one of the oubliettes that rarely got used. Then they'd gone in together and Harry had had his breakfast cabbage. Sarah had held conversation together all on her own, telling Harry about all the runners they'd had in the labyrinth, how the new goblins were fitting in. Harry had just scraped the last of the yolk out of his breakfast cabbage, when Jareth appeared in the middle of the hall in a burst of glitter.

"Sarah. I just got a letter from Harry. We must go visit that wretched place right away -" Jareth broke off when he realized Harry was sitting in front of him. "_Harry_" Harry laughed, and jumped forward, landing in Jareth's arms. Jareth swung him around, hugging him close and tight. "Oh. Harry. I've been so worried. How are you? Your letter sounded horrible. How could those _incompetents_ let a _troll_ into a school _with children_?"

Harry let out a breath, feeling the stress he'd been holding onto melt out of him. After a moment he squirmed to be let go. Jareth sighed, but put him down. "It was Quirrell." Jareth frowned thunderously, and Harry continued, "He said the troll was in the dungeon, but it went after a girl on the third floor. And we were waiting outside the Hufflepuff room for a while. We didn't see or hear anything like a troll go through the great hall. And also, why would Quirrell even have been in the dungeons to see a troll down there in the first place?"

Jareth made a humming noise, and flipped his wrist a few times until a large mirror appeared on the wall. "Let's see what he's up to then, shall we?"

The mirror went gray, then shimmered, before focusing hazily on the Great Hall. Quirrell was seated at the head table, quietly eating his oatmeal. Everyone frowned as the image stayed hazy.

Sarah stood, abandoning the rest of her breakfast, to step closer to the mirror. Jareth squinted his blue eye at it, and then reached out and poked the mirror a few times. Harry felt the brush of something through the air, and realized, with some surprise, that he could feel the magic Jareth was using to analyze the mirror. It looked like his Hogwarts education was proving useful after all!

Jareth stopped tapping and shifted away from the mirror slightly, now glaring at it. Sarah couldn't seem to hold it in anymore, "Well? What's wrong with it?"

"No idea." Jareth admitted, with a casual air. Harry and Sarah traded concerned looks. "It does seem familiar somehow. I've seen this reaction before."

He didn't continue, staring at the mirror, which was now following Quirrell from the Great Hall through the corridors to the Defense classroom. "When did you see it?" Harry asked.

Jareth frowned, "Oh, who knows. Could have been yesterday, could have been centuries ago. I'll remember eventually."

Harry sighed softly, and looked back at the mirror. An idea occurred to him, "Dad? Can you look at a place through one of these? Or just people?"

Jareth gave him a half amused, half insulted look, "Anything. Of course. My magic has no limits in my own realm."

Sarah scoffed at that, quietly. Harry bit back a grin. Jareth was in a superior mood. That was always fun. "Can you take a look at what Dumbledore's hiding on that third floor corridor?"

Jareth blinked, and then grinned, "Oh smart. Very clever. That's my doing, making him so smart." Jareth said to Sarah, who rolled her eyes, the corners of her mouth quirked up. Jareth turned to the mirror, waved his hand across the face of it, to clear it from Quirrell's office, and then he motioned Harry forward. "It'll be far easier for you than me, since you've been in the building. Place your hand at the top. When you're older you'll learn to do it without needing to touch, but this will work for now." Harry stepped forward, and did as he was asked. "Good. Now. Think of the place you want to see. Not just the name of the place, but it's relative location." Harry did so, imagining the third floor corridor, the place where the grand stair branched off into one of the only areas of the castle he hadn't seen. "Good." Jareth said. "Open your eyes and step back." Harry did so, looking to see an image of a wooden door.

Jareth raised his hand, and made a forward gesture. The image in the mirror responded instantly, jumping through the wood door to a large room. Standing nearly a story tall, in the center of the room, was a large three-headed dog. Jareth made a low, wanting sound.

"No." Sarah said. Harry repeated it, just a half beat later.

"But I _want_ it."

"No." Harry and Sarah said again.

Sarah folded her arms imperiously, "We agreed. No more carnivores in the labyrinth. The fireys and the pole-biters are bad enough."

Jareth pouted a little, "You never let me have what I want."

Sarah raised an eyebrow, and smiled, "I definitely do, actually."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Harry looked back and forth between them before interrupting with a short, to the point, "Ew."

They both laughed, breaking eye contact to look at Harry. "Sorry darling." Sarah said, reaching over to hug him to her, his back to her front, so they could both still focus on the mirror.

Harry rolled his eyes, but relaxed against his mother, "You're both missing the obvious. The cerberus is standing on a trapdoor."

Jareth and Sarah refocused on the mirror, and Jareth made a noise of interest. He flicked his wrist, pointing down. The image in the mirror rushed between the cerberus's feet, through the trapdoor into a dark room. Jareth harrumphed, and snapped his fingers to lighten the image. The room was filled from corner to corner with a large, moving, plant. It was mostly made up of vines, and looked vaguely threatening. The family studied it for a moment, but it was mostly uninteresting. Jareth pushed the image forward again, through the room's only door into the next room. This room was also large, filled with tiny flying birds. There were three brooms leaning against the far wall.

"This is very strange." Sarah said.

Harry and Jareth frowned. "You think so?" Jareth asked, a little confused, "It seems like an interesting labyrinth. Though a bit straightforward for my tastes."

Sarah sighed, heavily. "Labyrinths are not normal Above. In fact, there mostly aren't any at all. Mostly there are corridors and steps and signs that tell the truth."

Harry and Jareth clearly didn't fully believe her. They traded glances. "Well that would explain the simplicity of this one." Jareth allowed. He waved at the mirror again, and the image jumped forward to a third room. A large chessboard filled this room, with man-sized pieces. Another door was straight ahead, on the other side of the board. Jareth sighed, and flicked his wrist forward again. "Not even any dummy doors in different directions. How dull." The fourth room abruptly changed his tone. A large troll stood in the center of the room. Jareth hissed in rage, snapping his fingers before Sarah could protest. With a pop, and small explosion of glitter, the troll vanished.

"Jareth!" Sarah protested.

"No." Jareth said, in a tone that didn't invite arguing, "I will leave the cerberus, and I will leave Quirrell. For now. But I will not leave a troll free to wander around the school my son is attending."

Sarah blew out a frustrated breath, "They'll know something happened to it. They'll probably replace it."

Jareth snapped his fingers twice, sharply, and the image zoomed all the way out to a bird's eye view of the castle. With a twist of his fingers a crystal ball appeared in his hand. He concentrated for a moment, and the ball glowed green. He snapped again, and the subtle movements in the image - trees moving in the wind, owls flying back and forth, the waves of the lake - froze. He stepped forward, and pressed the green glowing ball against the glass. He rolled it a few times until the ball grew to the size that covered the image of the castle. Once it was large enough he pressed the ball through the mirror. A shimmery dome appeared in the image, encompassing the entire castle. Jareth snapped his fingers, and the green shimmer disappeared. He snapped again, and time resumed. "There. No more trolls will be able to pass through that. They can try to install another, or to bring one in for another distraction, but they won't be able to. Now, shall we proceed?"

Jareth didn't wait for a response, snapping his fingers again to focus the image back in the room that had previously housed the troll. The image moved forward again, to the smallest of the rooms they'd seen. On the center table, there was a series of potion bottles. Next to the bottles a scroll remained. Jareth waved his hand and they focused on the scroll. It was a simple riddle, and all three of them scoffed at the simplicity. Jareth sighed heavily, rolled his eyes, and moved the image forward one final time. The red stone sat atop a stone pillar in the center of the room.

"Quite a disappointing series of challenges." Harry said. Jareth nodded in agreement.

"Though," Sarah asked, contemplatively, "How would you get out?"

Jareth cocked his head. It was true. The final room only had the one door. Someone would have to complete all the tasks in reverse to escape. Presumably the stone would have some kind of wizard magic attached to it to notify someone when it was removed. "A lobster trap." Jareth observed.

Harry sighed, loudly. "Well, this is interesting. But I'm late for class now."

Jareth turned to him, grinning. "Ah time. Mortals are so attached to it." Jareth waved his arm expansively, and a large 13 hour clock appeared. Jareth waved his hand counter clockwise and the hands shifted backwards obligingly, until it was ten minutes before Harry's potions class began. Harry motioned to the mirror on the wall, which was still showing the stone in it's room. He concentrated on his mirror that he'd left behind in the potions corridor. The image changed to a view of the dark stone ceiling. Clearly Harry had dropped the mirror face up.

Harry turned from the mirror abruptly, and gathered Sarah up in a desperate hug. Sarah grabbed him back tightly, "Be good my boy. I love you so much, and we're both so proud of what you've been doing."

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, and swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. "I love you too Mom." He pulled away to find Jareth staring at him intently. He flung himself forward into his father's arms. "Thank you."

Jareth didn't move for a moment, before abruptly hugging him tight. He pressed a kiss to Harry's forehead, brushed his fingers through the boy's hair. "Be safe my son. And continue to do your best to be good and kind."

Harry nodded against Jareth's chest, before pulling away, clearing his throat. "Okay. I'll see you next month guys."

Harry didn't wait for another response, pressing his hand against the mirror, and pushing his way through.

Oooooo

A/N: Hopefully that better explains why Hermione is alive. -_-


	9. November

A/N: I was all hyped up to write another chapter. It's my way of escaping the neverending stress filled horror that is my job right now.

Also, I'd like to say that I don't think Gryffindors are stupid (some of my best friends are Gryffindors!) but I do think 11 year olds can be stupid and mean.

oooooo

At 8:15 in the morning, November 1st, on the lowest shelf in Albus Dumbledore's office a small glass and silver device began to glow green. The headmaster was down in the great hall for breakfast though, and there was no one to see it except Fawkes, who glanced at it as he ate his breakfast, but ultimately paid it no mind. Students went out of bounds quite often after all.

The device continued to glow green all through the breakfast period. It was the first thing Albus noticed when he got back into his office. Not terribly concerned, he went over and tapped it smartly with his wand. The name that the device spit forth immediately changed his perspective though, and he jumped towards his desk, scribbled something on a piece of parchment, and thrust it at Fawkes, who immediately flamed away with it.

Severus Snape was walking through the dungeon hallway, thinking about his first class of the day when Albus's phoenix appeared an inch in front of him, clutching a tattered piece of parchment. He reached out to grab it, automatically starting to organize his mind to prepare himself for a sudden meeting with Albus as he read the short message. _Assistance needed immediately. _

Fawkes had already flashed away, so Severus sighed and turned on his heel. He knew his way around the castle intimately by now, after spending the great majority of his life in it, and arrived at Albus's office less than two minutes after Fawkes had appeared. He walked quickly up the stairs, to find Albus moving back and forth quickly across the room, opening up a bookshelf to reveal a large foe-glass, where two shadowy shapes hovered in the near distance. Severus raised his eyebrows in surprise, not used to seeing Albus in this state of anxiety. "Albus what is happening?"

Albus stopped moving, looking at Severus, motioning to the glass device that was glowing on his shelf. "Mr. Potter has gone beyond the protection of the castle wards. When did you see him last?"

Severus felt a jolt of panic, "I spoke to him briefly before breakfast, but did not see him at the meal. His dorm mates said he needed a minute to himself. Mr. Nott said he was writing a letter home."

Albus turned on a dime, from where he was studying another glass instrument on his top shelf with a frown. "He is writing home?"

Severus ignored the question, not seeing its relevance, "What is your plan?"

Even as he asked the question the glowing ward alert stopped glowing, and went back to being inert. Both men stopped and stared at it. Albus moved forward to poke at it with his wand again. There was no reaction. "He's back." Albus said, confusion and relief clear in his voice.

Severus felt himself relax, "Can that device locate him? Do we know where he exited the wards?"

Albus stroked his beard meditatively, still staring at the device. He didn't respond to Severus's question for a few long seconds, "No. It cannot track like that. We may have to find a more direct way to keep an eye on the boy." Albus's gaze strayed upwards, to a device on his top shelf, which had had no reaction to any of the action all morning. His brow furrowed slightly.

Severus checked his watch. He was supposed to be teaching the Gryffindors and Slytherins right now. Harry would be in that class, if he wasn't they'd have something else to go on. "Well if that's all headmaster, I have a class to teach."

Albus waved him off absently, still staring at the top shelf of his bookcase.

oooooo

The inversion of gravity - going from walking through a mirror on a wall to stepping out of a mirror that was lying on the floor - made Harry dizzy for a brief moment. But Harry's third favorite room in the palace was the Escher Vault, and he was easily able to adjust. He picked up the mirror as soon as his feet were firm on the ground, and slipped it into his pocket. He went back out to the hallway and made his way to the Potions classroom. Theo was waiting anxiously against the wall, and his face relaxed into relief when he saw Harry approaching.

Harry smiled at him happily, and one of Theo's eyebrows went up. "You seem … better."

"I am!" Harry agreed brightly, smiling.

Theo studied his face closely, then reached out to place his hand on his arm. In a fake-concerned tone he said, "Harry, you know cheering charms are not the answer, right?"

Harry laughed, just as the door to the classroom swung open and Neville jogged up, looking flushed. "Hey." Harry greeted him, "Interesting night in Gryffindor I hear."

Neville groaned slightly as they entered the classroom, "It's been horrible. A bunch of people are blaming Hermione. They don't like her in the first place. It's so unfair."

It took Harry a moment to link the name Hermione to the face, but he realized Hermione was the anxious girl who was always raising her hand and interrupting when Professor Snape took too long to call on someone. He was pretty sure that Professor Snape purposely waited sometimes, just to be able to take points when she spoke out of turn. Harry sighed, "How's she doing?"

Neville shrugged, and looked behind him back to the hallway, "I think she was just scared. I doubt being scared will keep Hermione from a class."

Sure enough Hermione came bustling through the door just as Harry and Theo sat down. She looked a bit paler than usual, but otherwise mostly normal. She hesitated for a beat when she realized her usual lab partner, one of the Gryffindor boys, had traded with someone else. Neville was left alone. She hesitated only slightly before taking the free seat.

Harry looked around. Most of the Gryffindor first years were glaring at the girl. It made his stomach twist uncomfortably. It was unfair. It wasn't Hermione's fault that the prefects hadn't done their job. Nor that her dormmates hadn't reported her missing earlier. He hears Jareth's departing words from a few minutes ago _do your best to be good and kind_. He looked at Theo, and bit his lip. Finally he leaned over, and quietly asked, "Can you switch with Neville?"

Theo looked over at him, eyebrows arching in surprise. He looked up at Neville and Hermione, who were seated directly in front of them. Theo was a true Slytherin, and one glance around the room, and the self satisfied glares the Gryffindors were wearing, Neville's guilty expression, and Hermione's pursed lips and white face, clearly explained the situation to him. He glanced back at Harry, "You sure?"

Harry nodded, "It's not her fault."

Theo sighed, softly, "It'd be better if you switched with Neville."

Harry knew that, but he hadn't wanted to inconvenience Theo. The switch wouldn't only be this week, but probably for a while. There was a better than even chance they'd have to do a partner potion in that time. Needless to say, Hermione was a better potions partner than Neville. The Gryffindors really were kind of stupid, in Harry's opinion. To give up a great - if slightly abrasive - potions partner for some misplaced revenge was the height of stupidity. Hermione, when she wasn't interrupting the professors, got easily 5 times the amount of points for Gryffindor than anyone else did. Thier best bet, to win back the points they'd lost, would be to help her, not hinder.

Theo sighed again, which was one of his favorite things to do, Harry was pretty sure, and nodded. "Go. It'll be fine."

Taking Theo at his word, Harry stood, swung his bag over his shoulder and moved up to Neville's side. "Hey Neville. Theo wants to work with you today."

Neville looked up, clearly confused, and then behind himself to Theo, who nodded. "I -" Neville started, and then stopped, glancing at Hermione. "Okay." Neville grabbed his own things with something like relief, and moved back to take the seat next to Theo. Harry felt the sharp glares of the Gryffindors (and, he would bet, Draco) as well as the considering glances from some of the Slytherins right between his shoulder blades. He ignored them with the ease of long practice, and took his new seat.

Hermione turned to look at him, temper starting to rise behind her pale face. "What are you doing?" She hissed, and Harry had to admire her paranoia.

"It isn't fair." He stated, calmly, as he began pulling out his equipment, making sure his knives were sharp and his scales balanced.

Hermione was clearly surprised by this response, but, credit to her, it only took her a moment to come up with a response, "Life isn't fair."

Harry grinned at his father's favorite piece of advice, and corrected her the same way Sarah corrected Jareth, "The world isn't fair. Which means that people have to try their best to be. All the time."

Hermione was again, surprised. But she didn't answer, pulling out her potions text and her notebook, just as Professor Snape entered the room. Slightly late, and, Harry was surprised to note, limping very slightly. How had he missed that this morning? Or had he gotten injured in some way at breakfast?

"Today class we'll be working on the Boil Cure." Snape began, and Harry had to put aside his questions for a few hours.

Oooooo

The class went surprisingly well. It seemed like Neville responded to Theo's calm manner, and he hadn't gotten as anxious as usual. He'd actually turned in a potion only a few shades off from Harry and Hermione's perfect ones. Harry caught up to the two of them as they left, "How'd you do?" He asked, smiling wide.

Neville flushed and Theo actually smiled, "It was pretty good actually. I'm fine if you want to make the switch permanent."

"You okay with it too Neville?" Harry asked, and Neville nodded shyly.

"I only sat with Ron that first day because Dean and Seamus were already kind of friends. And then no one really wanted to move. Until today." He added, with a glance back at Hermione, who was only a few steps behind them, since they were all headed to the great hall for lunch. Her head was down, and she seemed to be mostly ignoring them and everyone else.

"So you don't mind switching?" Harry asked, just to confirm.

Neville shook his head, and grinned, "I did better today then I ever have!"

Harry grinned back, "Great!"

Oooooo

The next week passed quickly, and Harry paired up again with Hermione when Double Potions rolled around again. Snape continued to limp, very slightly, and Harry grew concerned. He was so concerned, in fact, that following potions class, he shook Theo and Neville off, and headed to Snape's office door. It swung open easily at his polite knock.

Snape was seated behind his desk, and didn't get up when Harry entered. "Mr. Potter. Did you have a question about today's class? You performed well, as usual."

Harry felt himself flush a little with pride. "Oh. No sir, but thank you. I was just - I was worried about you."

Snape's eyebrows went up, and the placid expression on his face cracked slightly, before smoothing back out, "I assure you, Mr. Potter, that I am perfectly fine."

Harry bit his lip, studying the man. Severus Snape was bitingly intelligent, fiercely protective of Slytherins, and sworn thricefold to protect Harry specifically. Harry took a leap of faith, "It was the cerberus, wasn't it? You went to the third floor Halloween night to make sure Quirrell didn't. It attacked you?" Snape's expression went completely and totally still, though his dark eyes glinted at Harry, assessing him. "It's some crazy plan Dumbledore cooked up isn't it? The Sorcerer's Stone was nearly stolen from Gringotts this summer. Now he's got it under the third floor corridor as some kind of bait. But you have to make sure that the right person gets caught in the trap." Harry blew out a breath, Snape continued to stare at him, "Look. Dumbledore is crazy and has some kind of plan for me that he'd like me to just step into. You should see the note he left for my Aunt when he left me there," At this, there was finally some kind of reaction from Snape, a bit of surprise maybe? Harry continued, "he didn't care that she didn't want me, he just left me there and tried to force her to take me in."

"Tried?" Snape questioned, leaning forward.

Harry hesitated. Dumbledore still believed he was living with his aunt, and he didn't think that now was the right time for Dumbledore to find out he was wrong. "I need to know if you're on my side or Dumbledore's side. I'll tell you whatever you want to know about me - but I'd need a guarantee."

Snape sat back in his chair again, sharp eyes still considering Harry. After a moment, he said, casually, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Harry nodded. He would have expected something like that, had he actually taken the time to plan this. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a jar of fireflowers and bog twig. He placed it on Snape's desk. "If you mash these together, into a paste, it'll help with healing and numbing the cerebus bite."

He turned around quickly and left, hoping crazily that he hadn't just made a terrible mistake.

oooooo

The next day the whole school was tromping out to the Quidditch field to watch the Gryffindor vs Slytherin game. Theo and Neville were taking turns explaining the game to Harry, who listened with bemused fascination.

"Bludgers are made of _iron_?" Harry asked, at one point, incredulous. Wizards were crazy! "There are flying _iron_ balls that the teams aim at each other? How has no one died?"

Theo laughed, and Neville grimaced. "I mean, no one's ever died in a school game, but there have been accidents on a professional level."

Harry blew out a breath, and watched it steam into the chilled November air. "Crazy. All of you. Absolutely bonkers."

Once they were seated though, and the game was underway, Harry found himself fascinated by it. He'd enjoyed his only flying lesson quite a bit, but they hadn't really done much of anything except take off and land. The acrobatics the two teams were doing were much more impressive.

At least, some of them are. The Gryffindor seeker is clearly terrified, and some of the older Slytherin students make a few odd moves. Harry would think they're cheating, but he gives them the benefit of the doubt. This is a sport where the two sides basically whack cannonballs back and forth, hoping to injure someone.

"Slytherin in possession," came the echoing voice of the match's commentator. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the - wait a moment - was that the snitch?"

Neville and Theo gasped and pointed at the dot of gold that had just flown past Adrian Pucey's ear, causing him to drop the Quaffle. Harry squinted. The snitch was the one that ended the game, he was pretty sure. He kind of hoped no one caught it. He'd barely gotten comfortable!

However, both Terence Higgs, the Slytherin seeker, and the Gryffindor seeker were flying straight towards thw gold blur. "Gryffindor's closer!" Theo moaned. Everyone's eyes were trained on the two seekers.

Abruptly Marcus Flint moved into action, swerving directly into the Gryffindor seeker's way, causing the boy to be flung wildly across the pitch. Harry gasped as the boy just barely held onto his broom.

Nearly as one, the Gryffindors screamed "Foul!", echoed, Harry noticed, by nearly all the Hufflepuffs and a fair amount of Ravenclaws.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle sharply, and flew up to Flint, speaking angerly. Harry bit his lip, his eyes on the Gryffindor seeker, who now looked even more nervous, clutching his broom tightly and shaking a bit.

Gryffindor was indeed awarded a foul and a girl named Spinner easily made the shot. The commentator was clearly upset, "So after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating -"

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall growled.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul -"

"_Jordan I am warning you -_"

"All right. All right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor seeker, which could happen to anyone I'm sure -"

Harry felt himself flush as Jordan prattled on. He looked around at the stands. The Gryffindors looked furious. A few glared were shot toward the Slytherin stands, and Harry bit his lip again, stomach rolling.

The rest of the match was much the same - Slytherins used what were clearly dirty if not downright illegal moves to keep the Gryffindor seeker from the snitch. After a few minutes it was clear that that wouldn't be a problem either way, as the clearly terrified boy shot up to about 15 feet above the action, and stopped there, completely still. This clearly distracted the Gryffindor keeper and captain, who could be seen shouting up towards the seeker, trying to get him to return to the game.

The Slytherin seeker caught the snitch about five minutes after the Flint incident. They won 210 - 20.

Harry left the stadium feeling like they'd won nothing at all.

Oooooo

Albus Dumbledore was in his office, completely ignoring the Quidditch game that was going on. He'd taken the small ward tracker that had lived on the top shelf of his bookcase for the past ten years, and placed it on his desk so he could examine it closer.

Ward trackers were simple enough devices. Made of silver and glass, they were half potion and half enchanted. The Hogwarts tracker was as old as the school, and had always been correct. If it said that one Harry James Potter had exited the castle's wards at some point this morning, only to return before his first class, than he had.

The ward tracker that was now on Albus's desk was one he'd made himself. Albus had been making them since he was in his thirties. He strongly doubted that he'd made a mistake after eighty years of experience. There must be another explanation as to why this particular ward tracker was not working properly. And it was the utmost importance that he figure it out soon, because this was a very important ward tracker.

This tracker was attached to the wards at Number 4 Privet Drive.

And according to it, Harry Potter was still firmly in the walls of his aunt's home.

Oooooo

A/N: Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews and PMs! I read every single one and love them all to bits!

If you're confused about the ward tracker, go back to the very first chapter, when Harry arrives Below for the first time. :)


	10. Vow

A/N: A bit of Slytherin politics in this one. FYI - if you don't like Slytherins this really is not the fic for you. I have just made some edits to chapter 2, which aren't terribly important storywise, but were bothering me. Now Harry recognizes the image of his mother that Jareth shows them because Jareth has told Harry about his parents before.

ooooo

Severus Snape spent the last two weeks of November turning the conversation he'd had with Potter over in his mind. On the surface, it was a simple choice. No one knew better than him how manipulative and shortsighted Albus Dumbledore could be. The option to abandon the old man without violating his vows - in fact he'd be following his vows to protect Harry Potter - should have been a chance he'd immediately jump at.

But offers that seemed too good to be true seldom were. In fact, they often had traps. And he was pretty sure he knew what this one's trap was.

Harry Potter had approached him for the same reason Dumbledore had agreed to save him from Azkaban after the first war. He was a trustworthy spy who sat close to Voldemort. What's more, for Potter, he offered access to whatever Dumbledore was planning. Was he willing to take the chance of spying on two of the most powerful wizards of their age for the sake of an eleven year old boy?

It was, as it always had been, certain death if he was found out by the Death Eaters. If he began to spy on Dumbledore as well - perhaps death wouldn't befall him, but he wouldn't be saved from Azkaban again. It was only Dumbledore's word that had saved him the first time, Dumbledore's word could do the opposite as well.

The day after Harry's shocking offer he watched the Gryffindor-Slytherin match and considered that there was no truly safe path forward. This nearly caused him to laugh, as there hadn't been a real way forward for him since the moment the Sorting Hat had placed him in Slytherin twenty some years ago.

With the odds of his own safety even across the board he turned his attention to the goals of each side. If he was going to die, it might as well be for a good cause after all. Voldemort wanted the full blooded wizards to gain control over the wizarding world. This was easy to dismiss entirely. Lily Potter's memory would not allow him to consider it. Not to mention that he himself was a half blood. He had followed that path once before, he knew where it ended. He had no interest in following that madman ever again.

Albus Dumbledore's goals were harder to ascertain. He wanted the downfall of Voldemort, that was clear. But his methods and the sacrifices he was willing to make tended to turn Severus's stomach. Albus had made a mistake, ten years ago, and insisted that Severus swear an Unbreakable bond to protect Harry Potter. And then assumed that that meant Severus was on his side entirely. Of course, he couldn't be if Albus was working against Harry in some fashion. And placing the boy - attempting to place the boy - with Petunia clearly spoke to the fact that Albus did not have Harry's best interest at heart.

So what did Harry Potter want? It seemed safe to assume that he was as interested in the continued life of Harry Potter as Severus was himself. Otherwise, his motivations were a mystery. One conversation with the boy was not enough to form a real opinion.

He considered the problem for a week - in class, in his office, during meals and on his nightly and weekend rounds. Saturday he trekked out to the Quidditch pitch to check on the Slytherin practice session, but stopped just outside the door when he heard Melody's voice "- you don't have to do what he says. Just listen for a second."

Severus cast a quick notice-me-not spell and stepped forward, angling his body to see through the door to the locker rooms, without being seen himself. The entire Quidditch team was there, ready for practice. Melody was standing near the chalkboard where plays were drawn out. She stepped aside to reveal Potter. Of course. Severus resisted the urge to sigh heavily.

Harry stepped forward, shifting nervously, "Er. Thanks Melody. Hi guys." The team continued to stand silently. Harry shifted nervously, and dragged his hand through his hair, making his scar a bit more obvious. Severus raised his eyebrows with respect. If that was conscious manipulation, it was extremely well done. A few of the Quidditch players straightened up a bit, and began to pay closer attention. "I didn't know anything about wizards, growing up," Harry started. Surprise rolled through the locker room, and now everyone was paying very close attention. Even Melody looked briefly surprised before she controlled it.

"I'd never heard of Hogwarts until I got my letter - and I'd never heard of Slytherin until I read some books at Flourish and Blotts. Even then I don't think I really understood the whole house system until I was in it." The team traded confused glances. They obviously didn't understand what this had to do with them. But Harry was on a roll now and kept going, "After I was sorted, in my first month I was pulled aside by a member of every other house and warned in the strongest possible terms, that I was in danger from my housemates. I was told that Slytherins were liars, cheaters, and all Death Eaters. One boy was convinced that I'd be murdered in my bed. One of the teachers even approached me and warned me to be very careful." Severus scowled heavily, wondering which teacher had been so idiotic. The team was shifting and scowling angrily as well. Some of them began muttering darkly to each other. But Harry's voice cut clear through the din, "And last week," attention swung back to him immediately, "you did nothing to prove them wrong. In fact, you went the other way completely."

Instantly Harry was the subject of seven angry and offended glares. He straightened under the focus, and Severus stood up from where he was leaning against the doorjamb, prepared if Potter was suddenly going to be attacked.

"You cheated and attacked and basically acted like bullies. Just like they all said you were. You can't deny it, I was there, I saw it. You won the game." And his voice was chiding, not congratulatory. "So if that's your life goal, good work. But, if you'd like to graduate and get a job and escape this belief that all Slytherins are evil, you're doing it wrong."

The team traded glances, and to Severus's surprise, more than half of them seemed to be actually considering what the boy was saying. "Slytherins get jobs." Bole contributed, sounding annoyed and slightly haughty, "Lucius Malfoy is basically the Minister of Magic."

Harry, instead of being intimidated by the angry fourth year, quirked a half smile, "I know. I share a room with Draco." One or two of the other boys sniggered, and Harry continued, "The Malfoy family also has an ancestral vault the size of the Great Hall. Do you? Can you name a powerful Slytherin who didn't get their power by virtue of their vault?"

The boys traded looks again, but Severus already knew what they were going to say. It was Flint who finally took the plunge, "Snape. He's the youngest potions master ever, and teaches at the best school in Britain."

Harry raised his eyebrows, "And clearly he's extremely happy and fulfilled in that position." A few more snickers. Harry had clearly won most of the team over. "Plus what's the last potion that Professor Snape got past the review board? Just that Wolfsbane variant that got him his mastery and nothing else for years. Anyway," Harry said, with a wave of his hand as if to dismiss the crumbling of Severus's career, "this wasn't really my point. My point is that if all you want is to win school Quidditch games, then you're clearly doing that very well. If you maybe want to help me in dragging the Slytherin name out of them mud, maybe think about not being such _Slytherins_ in front of the entire school."

Severus slipped away at that point, canceling his notice-me-not charm as he went. He considered this new aspect of Harry Potter's personality. Maybe, he considered, it was time for him to throw his lot behind someone whose goals aligned with his own. Equality for his Slytherins and the continued life of Harry Potter.

He smiled to himself as he conjured a piece of parchment and a quill, taking a moment to write a short missive. He called an elf and asked them to place it on the boy's pillow. He'd speak with the boy hero tonight, and offer that guarantee he'd asked for.

ooooo

After rigorous review Dumbledore had determined that the ward monitor on Privet Drive was enspelled by some strong magic that he didn't recognize. Well it was extremely concerning, it was less so since Harry was clearly fine and attending school - excelling in school actually, if his professors were to be believed. The boy was clearly fine - but Albus had placed Harry with the Dursley's for a specific reason. Multiple reasons actually. And if there was the chance that the boy had not grown up where Dumbledore had planned, he needed to know. It would affect how he handled the boy.

Which was why he was walking down Privet Drive at one in the afternoon on a Saturday. He almost walked straight past number four - all of the houses along the street looked almost magically similar, like someone had set off a duplication charm at the beginning of the street. He'd been using magical senses, hunting for the collapsed blood wards. Number four had no wards at all, not even the remnants of any wards.

He frowned at the property, getting steadily more concerned. The boy was fine, he reminded himself. He was in class right now. And Dumbledore had verified, in three different ways, the boy at Hogwarts was in fact, Harry Potter. Lucky that he'd saved a bit of the boy's blood from that long ago Halloween night.

He dropped his wand into his hand, and began scanning the property more intently. There were no traces anywhere that there had ever been wards on the property. He slipped his wand back into his sleeve, and started down the walkway to the front door. He rang the doorbell, and waited placidly until Petunia Dursley nee Evans pulled the door open. "Good morning." He greeted, cheerfully, only to have the door slammed in his face. His smile went a bit brittle, but he regrouped, and pressed the doorbell again. Silence for a moment before Petunia called out, waveringly, "We don't want any of your kind here. Go away or I will call the police!"

Annoyance fizzed in Dumbledore's gut, but years of practice had him maintaining his placid grandfatherly smile. "Now now Mrs. Dursley, I only want to ask about your nephew. There's no need for police."

Another moment, and the door opened a crack, recognition lit in the woman's eyes, "You're the one that sent him!" Dumbledore, had he been anyone else, would have shifted nervously at the sheer outrage in her tone.

Instead he faked a tone of deep sorrow, and sighed, "Yes. I attempted to fulfill your sister's last wish."

"Oh don't even try it." Petunia's strident voice interrupted. "My sister wanted her son with me as little as I did. That's why I sent him away! I did what she asked!" Just like that Dumbledore's fears were realized, and a lump of ice froze in his gut. "And it's not like you cared! Never showed up all these years to look after the boy." Petunia breathed out sharply from her nose, "Now go away." And she slammed the door again - Albus was too slow to stop it, still in shock.

He recovered himself with a shake and knocked sharply, pressed the bell again, "Mrs. Dursley, please. Where did you send him?" No response. "Mrs. Dursley!" He rang the bell again, knocked. He fingered his wand, but that would only bring the Ministry into this. He had no doubt he could get away with no charge but not without drawing attention to the fact that he was knocking on the door of Harry Potter's only living relative. He cursed himself silently, rang the doorbell again. All he needed was a moment of eye contact and he could find out where the boy had been sent - but Petunia did not return to the door. He'd been too off balance, too surprised to attempt Occlumency when she'd been standing there, and for that misstep he cursed himself roundly. He continued to ring the doorbell and knock, until a patrol car made the turn down the street and he was forced to retreat.

ooooo

Harry got back to his dorm a few hours after lunch. He was surprised to find a sealed piece of parchment on his pillow. He grabbed it and flopped onto his back just as Theo came in, trailing Neville. Harry raised his eyebrows at the pair of them. Two weeks since their first potions class as a pair and the two of them were nearly inseparable. Neville had been a little nervous the first time Harry and Theo had dragged them into their common room, but aside from a few side glances no one particularly cared. Harry wasn't sure if the Slytherins genuinely didn't care or if it was because Neville and Theo were his friends. He supposed it didn't really matter why.

"How'd your thing with the Quidditch team go?" Theo asked as he began to dig through his trunk for something.

Harry slit the seal on the parchment, and smiled to see Professor Snape's handwriting requesting a meeting that night at six. "Fine. Well, mostly fine. I said what I had to say anyway. They seemed to listen."

"Good," was Theo's opinion as he pulled an old potions book out of his trunk with shout of success, "Ha! I knew I had it. Here." He handed the book over to Neville, "It's an introductory text that talks about the different methods of ingredient preparation. It'll help you get the basics down."

Neville smiled at him, studying the back cover of the book. "Hermione will want to borrow it as soon as she sees it."

Theo made a face, and Harry laughed. Theo didn't really like Hermione, even less so now that Harry was lab partners with her. The second week in a row she hadn't been very welcoming, though Neville reported that things in Gryffindor had calmed down a bit. People weren't as mad at her. Harry still didn't understand why anyone had been mad at her in the first place, it wasn't her fault. "Fine," Theo said, ungracefully, "but make sure you read it first. Don't let her steal it from you."

Harry yawned, touched his wand to the letter from Professor Snape and it obligingly burst into flame. Theo and Neville gave him odd looks, but Harry ignored them, "Tell her they've probably got a copy of it in the library. Should get her off your back." The two of them traded glances, but Harry continued on, "Do we have any plans for the rest of the day? I'm actually caught up on homework for once."

Neville stuck his borrowed book into his bag, "Some of the older Gryffindors are going to do a flying lesson, Hooch will be there too."

"Awesome." Harry said, and the three of them made their way out to the field.

ooooo

Severus waited calmly in his office. He'd spent the day going over this coming conversation. The trick to getting what you wanted in negotiations, he'd always found, was going in knowing what that was and exactly what you would be willing to give up to get it. A small part of him thought he might be overestimating his need for preparedness with an eleven year old boy, but he knew it was better to be over prepared than under.

A knock sounded and he breathed out soft, refirming his mental shields, "Come."

Harry entered alone, which was good as Severus had been slightly concerned that he might drag Knott along. "I got your note." He said, a thread of clear nervousness in his voice. His nervousness had the opposite effect on Severus, who relaxed slightly with the proof that this was just as important to Harry as it was to him.

"Obviously," he said, and motioned to the chair, "take a seat please." As Harry moved forward Severus waved his wand once, twice, three times, setting the strongest privacy spells he knew into place.

Harry collapsed into his chair with all the inelegance typical of a preteen boy. Once seated though he straightened up, shifted his robes and crossed his feet at the ankles. He looked like a young prince. A prickle of annoyance lit in Severus's gut, but he forced himself to keep calm. The boy was not generally arrogant. And after considering him for a moment, Severus didn't think he was being arrogant now either. The motions had been automatic, the same way he'd collapsed into his chair. It was a learned behavior. Severus wondered if today was the day he'd be told where the boy had learned it.

Once situated Harry reached down into his book bag and pulled out a scroll, which he unrolled on Severus's desk. Severus leaned down to read.

_I, Severus Tobias Snape hereby swear on my magic to keep the secrets I learn from Harry Potter. I further swear that I will act in the best interests of Harry Potter unless acting would put myself in immediate danger. I will promptly give Harry Potter any information that I discover or am told which would affect him directly unless doing so will violate any other vow I am subject to. Signed,_

The signature spot was blank. Severus blinked down at it. He was completely taken aback. This was not at all what he was expecting. He'd been expecting another unbreakable vow. He'd been expecting insistence that he become Harry Potter's personal spy. This was - for a magical oath it was practically polite. The two exceptions seemed to make it clear that his life was actually more important than Harry's. Completely unlike the two masters he currently had. "This is…" he started, but had nowhere to go with it, couldn't think of a word, "Do you have a blood quill?"

The boy breathed out, and reached into his bag for the wicked looking quill. He passed it to Severus end first. Severus decided not to spend too much time second guessing himself, and signed quickly, ignoring the sting on the back of his hand. It healed very quickly after he set the quill down. The vow settled around him almost gently.

Harry started speaking at once, "From what my father was able to put together this is what happened -"

ooooo

Hours later Severus was back in his living room, doors locked and barred, and Harry was back in his dorm. The story the boy had told was rolling around his head. It was unbelievable. It was crazy. The Goblin King was a myth. The proof Harry had offered however, was unassailable. He'd shown the image of the castle in his mirror, flag fluttering in the breeze. And as if that wasn't enough, the boy had transfigured a piece of paper into a section of fabric without a wand or an incantation. He'd called it an 'imagining' and it was a basic level transfiguration, but for an eleven year old to do any transfiguration at all without a wand was extremely impressive.

Severus realized vacantly that he'd been standing still and silent in the middle of his living room for nearly half an hour, and shook himself out of it, heading to his bedroom to prepare for bed. Harry had also showed him the letter that Dumbledore had left him with. It hadn't been as shocking as it probably should have been, realizing just how manipulative Dumbledore was.

For his part, he'd shared what he knew about Dumbledore's current concerns. He'd told Harry about the Stone, and Dumbledore's apparent plan to keep it safe. Both of them had expressed concerns regarding the way the current 'vault' was set up, but neither of them knew what else to do. Or what else Dumbledore could be planning. Severus had also told Harry about the ward stone, and Dumbledore's reaction to finding out Harry had gone beyond the castle wards. Harry had gone a bit pale at that, and apologized. He explained that he'd gone home for the morning, that the mirrors could be used the same way wizards used the floo network. He'd blushingly explained that one of the locks on the stone's vault was gone and wouldn't be coming back. Goblins apparently despised trolls, and the Goblin King wouldn't tolerate a troll so close to his heir.

It was a lot for Severus to take in. And one of the most annoying parts of it, was that Harry turned out to be royalty after all.

Potters.

ooooo

AN: Sorry this took so long guys. I was having the worst time figuring out how to word the vow and Harry's story about his life. I finally decided you guys could fill Harry's part of this in with your imagination.


	11. December

A/N: Thanks so much for all the kind words for the last chapter.

ooooo

Two weeks before the end of term all the heads of houses went around to take the names of the students who would be staying behind over winter break. Neither Harry or Theo signed up, which Draco seemed to overlook, based on the strange way he began loudly talking about how happy he was to be going home to spend time with his family. It took Harry a few minutes to realize that this was supposed to be some kind of insult based on the fact that the Potters were dead.

"What is _wrong_ with him?" Harry asked Theo, the last day of term, in the common room after Draco had swanned past, waving around a letter from his father. "How'd he even get in this house?" He asked, for what had to be at least the hundredth time, he'd never gotten a satisfactory answer, "I thought Slytherins were supposed to be sly and clever, not the most obvious people to ever exist."

Theo quirked half a smile, underlining something in his charms text. "Maybe his father bribed the hat." Theo said 'his father' in the exact same haughty tone that Draco always said 'my father' and Harry laughed softly as he pulled another old dusty history text from his bag. He was still working steadily on his research into the false goblin history they were being taught in class. He was beginning to think that the goblins from the bank would need to be involved in some way. And possibly the media.

The whole thing was so strange. Older books - fifty or sixty years - talked about the inscrutability of the goblin hierarchy. One book he'd found even referenced the fact that a King had been spoken of, yet never seen. More recent books talked about the wars that Professor Binns talked about in class. Most of them referenced Professor Binns as an expert on the subject.

Harry was beginning to wonder if all of this was just a crazy ghost who had it in for Harry's subjects, and a wizarding world that refused to do their own research. Even the assigned textbook only referenced one goblin rebellion. Harry had sent a letter off to the bank asking what they knew about that one instance. He hadn't yet received a response.

Theo lazily cast a tempus spell from his armchair, and straightened up when he realized what time it was, "Come on, we'll be late for Potions."

Harry quickly gathered his things and motioned to Blaise, Pansy, Daphne and Millicent, who packed up as well, and followed them out of the common room. "Where's Draco?" Millicent asked, as they began following Harry through the identical dungeon corridors.

"Probably framing his letter from home or dipping it in gold or making up a big 'Harry Potter is an orphan and I'm not hahaha' sign." Harry answered, tone a little bitter.

The other three Slytherins looked around nervously, "We're outside the common room." Blaise said, matter of factly.

Harry blew out a breath through his nose. The rules of Slytherin house stated that any arguments or bad blood between house mates were to stay inside the dormitory. Harry had never noticed Draco taking any steps to live up to that standard, but as Sarah would tell him, the bad behavior of others didn't excuse his own bad behavior. Theo adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder, giving Harry concerned looks. Harry breathed out again, and shook himself, trying to shake off the annoyance that was still lingering.

They turned the final corner to the potions corridor just as the classroom door opened and Professor Snape stuck his head out to motion them in. Timing like that was why most of the Slytherins now followed Harry to class, even though most of them were beginning to know their way around. They quickly filed into the classroom and took their usual seats. Harry settled into the seat next to Hermione, ignoring her suspicious glance. It seemed that Harry's fame wasn't helping the innate suspicion of Slytherin motives in Gryffindor house at least. Or maybe Hermione was just used to being suspicious of her classmates.

Harry just inclined his head at her casually, and then turned to pay attention to Professor Snape, who flicked his wand at the chalkboard, putting up a new potion. "As you begin to work on this new brew I will be handing back your assignments from last week." He lifted the pile of scrolls, and frowned at them all, "Overall they were unsurprisingly disappointing."

Draco walked in at that point, Vince and Greg following close behind on his heels. Harry realized after a moment that he was grinding his teeth, and forced himself to stop. At the head of the room, Professor Snape watched the three boys come in and sit down, and then opened his mouth. Harry braced himself for some unfair dismissive comment. "Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle. Thank you for joining us. That will be thirty points from Slytherin. Ten each."

The entire room froze. This was the first time Professor Snape had ever taken points from Slytherin. He usually spent most of the class praising Draco for properly preparing his potion ingredients. When a Slytherin did do something wrong - like placing the wrong ingredients in the wrong order so the potion melted or exploded something - he would go out of his way to blame a nearby Gryffindor student. It wasn't exactly fair, but neither were any of the other professors, just in the other direction.

Harry blinked at Professor Snape, and then turned to see Draco. His face was a picture. Completely pale and shocked, mouth dropped open wide. He recovered himself after a moment of gaping surprise, "Sir-!"

Professor Snape cut him off immediately, "Are you unaware of how to tell time Mr. Malfoy? It would explain a few things."

Draco scowled, "No sir."

"Then are you incapable of reading your class schedule? I can have someone explain it to you. The Hufflepuffs are always glad to help."

Draco's scowl deepened and a red flush began to rise in his cheeks as the entire class followed the conversation back and forth with wide eyes. "No sir." His tone was begrudging now, teeth clenched together.

"Then please explain to me why you and Mr. Goyle and Mr. Crabbe have been late for the last three of my classes." Draco scowled at nothing, and didn't answer. "Do you think prompt attendance at potions class is unimportant?"

The class turned their eyes back to Draco, who was clearly groping for an answer, "Of course not sir." Professor Snape raised an eyebrow, and Draco continued, "It won't happen again."

Professor Snape sniffed. "Please start today's lesson."

The class scrambled for the potions cabinet, selecting the ingredients needed for today. Draco, still seemingly stunned, allowed Vince to go up alone while he waited in his seat. Harry gathered his things and forced himself to turn his attention away from Draco's little drama and towards his cauldron. He worked slowly, paying attention to every step. He grimaced and flinched as he dropped a spoonful of beetle eyes into the simmering potion base, but luckily nothing else was as gross. When he was halfway through the potion the next step was to allow it to boil slowly for ten minutes, so he pulled his mixing spoon out and laid it across the top to keep it from being contaminated by any of the things on his workspace.

Professor Snape walked down the aisle then to hand him his last assignment, and Harry unspooled his parchment to find nothing written on it but a bright red 'See Me' at the top. Next to him Hermione obviously saw that and she straightened up with a self-righteous 'humpf'. Harry rolled his eyes as he finally realized what Hermione's problem was with him. He was better at potions than she was. How boring.

Harry finished and decanted his potion about ten minutes before the end of class. When he went to the front of the room to drop it off, Professor Snape looked up from what he was doing and nodded at the shimmering color of the potion, "You may leave after your potions are completed." Professor Snape announced to the class, and lower, just to Harry, added, "I am free after class. We can meet to discuss your assignment in my office."

Harry nodded and left the room. He wandered through the dungeon to the door to Professor Snape's office, where he slid down against the wall opposite the door, and took a seat on the floor. He considered pulling out another history text but his brain was exhausted, so he reached out to rub one of the nearby stones instead. The wall he was leaning against was cold enough that the chill began to seep through his robes. He crooned a short request to the stones behind him to warm up. The burbled happily to each other and did as he asked. He stroked the stone next to him, finding the edges, and asking the others around if they had anything stuck in them they wanted him to pry loose. They were all pretty happy, except for one that had a piece of parchment wedged somewhere uncomfortable. Harry bent down to start gently pulling it loose, asking one of the more talkative stones about his day. Stones usually enjoyed telling stories, but stones - especially stones kept in windowless dungeons - really didn't understand the concept of time, so it was always a guessing game about when the stories had actually taken place.

Harry was laughing along to a story about an older student who had spent his time tracing every crack and crevice in the walls and muttering to himself when Professor Snape walked up. His dark eyes squinted at him suspiciously, and Harry swallowed back his laughter, shouldered his bag and stood back up. "Sorry Professor."

Snape glanced around the hallway like he was looking for the source of Harry's laughter. His eyes fell on the stone floor, and he frowned a bit, before jerking his head to the office door. "Come in Mr. Potter." Harry stood to follow him in, "I was disappointed by your latest assignment Mr. Potter, it shows the typical arrogance of-" Professor Snape broke off abruptly when the door sealed shut behind him and the silencing and privacy charms locked into place. Harry frowned at him nervously, twisting the strap of his shoulder bag. "Oh, do take that look off your face Mr. Potter, your essay was just as precise as ever. I needed to use a ruse to get you behind my wards. The headmaster is not pleased. He has discovered you do not live with your Aunt."

Harry felt his eyes go wide, and he dropped his bag on the chair in front of Snape's desk. "How?"

Snape sighed softly, and crossed his arms over his chest, "I am unsure of the details. Something alerted him when you left the castle in November. He visited your aunt's home last month as well, but was unable to discover where she sent you. He tried again, but apparently your aunt has moved her family elsewhere. He has become extremely anxious, even more so when he realized you wanted to go home over break. He wants to meet with you tomorrow morning before you leave."

Harry's eyebrows went up in surprise. He'd never spoken to his aunt, though Jareth had apparently peeked at them once or twice. He'd always gotten the impression that they were not very good people. He tried not to feel bad that they had had to flee their house because of him. He bit at his lip anxiously. "Why does he care so much?"

Snape scoffed, "You have realized that you are famous in our world haven't you? You are the heir apparent to replace him as the light lord. If, as he firmly believes, the Dark Lord is not dead, you are the one that he expects to face him. Custody of you is extremely important to whatever plans he has for the future. I believe he may even go so far as to try to place a tracking charm on you during this meeting."

Harry raised his eyebrows, amused, "I would really love to see him try and follow us through the labyrinth."

Professor Snape sighed, "Yes, well. Do you have any ideas what you're going to tell him about where you live?"

Harry frowned at that, considering. "I suppose I'll say that Sarah raised me in America. She still spends time there, visiting her family. She'll have records if Dumbledore tries to track her down."

Snape frowned, "And how did you end up with her?"

Harry scuffed his shoe against the borders around a stone on the floor, smiled, "I don't know, I was one year old. Sarah always told me my parents died and left me to her."

Snape sighed, tapping his fingers against his arms where they crossed, "I suppose that will have to do. You can tell him that Sarah is a friend of your mother, and a Muggle. Tell him they met while your mother was living in London after graduation."

"Why after graduation?"

Snape rolled his eyes, "If they had met while Lily was in school Albus would have heard about it. The only time Albus was not active in their life would have been when she was in London after graduation before your parents married and actively joined the Order."

Harry blinked, "The Order?"

Snape sighed heavily, and unfolded his arms violently, "Do not concern yourself with that now. Organize your thoughts. You must not appear to be lying. He has ways of telling. Know exactly how much to give away."

Harry nodded and re-shouldered his bag, "Where is his office?"

"I trust that with your castle explorations you know the large gargoyle statue on the third floor?" Harry nodded, "That's the entrance. The password is 'Chocolate Frog'."

"You can't come with me?"

Severus sighed heavily, "No. It is best if we pretend not to like each other very much. If he thinks I can offer any insights on you he will not stop pressing until he gets some."

Harry frowned, but dipped his head understandingly. "Thank you."

Ooooo

The next morning the large gargoyle jumped aside quickly enough when Harry told it the password. Inside there was a circular staircase that moved on its own as soon as Harry stepped foot on it. With labyrinth trained instincts, Harry jumped from the moving stairs to the banister, crouching down on it as he studied the staircase, which had stopped moving as soon as he'd gotten off. He frowned at it suspiciously, before straightening and deciding to walk up the banister, just in case. A spiral banister was a little harder than walking on top of the walls of the labyrinth, but at least it didn't move. He slipped down to sit on the bannister when he got to the top, testingly pressed his toe against the ground, but it remained stable. He jumped down and knocked once on the door.

There was a half beat of silence before a cheerful "Enter" rang through the air. Harry pushed the door open to find himself in a large circular room. The room that he had watched for many hours in the mirror Below. He resisted the urge to wave to Jareth and Sarah, who were watching.

"Headmaster?" Harry asked, exaggerating the nervousness in his voice. "Snape said you wanted to meet with me?"

"Ah, yes. Harry, my boy. Come in, come in." Dumbledore's blue eyes sparkled. Harry had seen Jareth do that once or twice when some glitter got stuck in his eye. He wondered if he should offer to help get it out. "And it's Professor Snape my boy. Proper respect should be given even when they're not here."

"Oh, okay, sorry Albus." Harry said, taking a seat. Dumbledore's eyebrows came together and the twinkle died. Not glitter then.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, if you please."

Harry blinked innocently, "Oh. Sorry. I'm still trying to get used to the manners here. You called me Harry, so I assumed this was a first name situation."

Dumbledore's brow relaxed slightly, "Ah. Well, that is sort of what I want to talk to you about."

Harry straightened, and adopted a look of stricken apology, "My manners? Am I doing things wrong? I'm so sorry! I'm trying _really hard_."

Dumbledore blinked slowly in surprise, "No H- Mr. Potter. You have had no complaints about your manners. However, there is some concern about your living arrangements."

Harry blinked slowly, as if he had no idea what the man was talking about. "My living arrangements? What does that have to do with my manners?"

Dumbledore smiled benevolently, "Well, it has become rather clear that you do not live with your Aunt Petunia as your mother intended you to. The records we have here state that you live with her. We just need to clear up this bit of confusion."

Harry blinked, and then smiled, "Oh, okay. Well, the first part of that that's wrong is that my Birth Mom didn't want me to be with her sister. They didn't get along, from what my Mom has told me. Mom was contacted by Aunt Petunia when Aunt Petunia found me on her doorstep. Also, I got my letter at my mother's place. So I must be on record." He said, happily.

Dumbledore just looked at him for a moment, "Ah. Well, our school letter quill isn't attached to the official records. It is a highly magical artifact that was enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw that writes out the names and locations of children with magical power. We need to have your …" Dumbledore hesitated, and looked at an odd small glass ball on a silver pedestal on his desk. He reached out and it moved a bit, causing the clear potion inside of the ball to move and glitter green. "Your mother's name," he continued, voice less grandfatherly kind, firmer, "and the address of the place you're living."

Harry looked at the ball. Something about it felt like Below. No, not Below he realized, Jareth. That ball had been enchanted by Jareth. He stared at it, "My mother's name is Sarah Williams. We live in New York."

Dumbledore's gaze fell on him, bright and piercing, "New York? You have lived in America? Where?"

Harry bit his lip, "I can't say."

Surprise crossed Dumbledore's face, before he became stern, "Mr. Potter. We need this information."

Harry sighed, heavily, "Well then I guess I'll have to withdraw from Hogwarts."

The sentence landed like a bomb. Dumbledore's entire face froze in surprise. Harry wondered if he was even breathing. Harry watched him carefully. After a few long moments of silence, Harry stood. "I'll be late for the train if this takes much longer. You can think about how much you need my exact address over break."

Dumbledore's eyes thinned, just slightly, at the corners as he considered Harry. He folded his hands, and sat back in his chair. "Go join your friends." His voice was cold.

Harry went, with a rock of anxiety in his stomach.

Theo was waiting for him in the Great Hall. He raised a single eyebrow and Harry shrugged in response. They headed out to the carriages together silently.

Harry really loved Hogwarts but he still felt a large wash of relief when he stepped onto the Express to make his way home.


	12. Below

Harry was cautiously optimistic about his confrontation with Dumbledore as the Express raced through England. Theo clearly wanted to know what had happened, but Harry just shook his head. He'd felt a bit of power hit his back as he'd exited the building, could be Snape's promised tracking charm, could be some kind of eavesdropping charm for all he knew.

So they spent the journey talking about inconsequential things. Harry 'explained' that Snape had held him back the day before because he'd misunderstood the point of the assignment. He pretended to be annoyed that he had to rewrite the essay.

They were about twenty minutes outside of the station when a large owl appeared outside their window, and tapped on it once with his beak. Harry gasped, recognizing Jareth, and quickly moved to unlock it and let him in. Jareth entered the carriage quickly, he paused in the middle of the small room, hovering impossibly in the air as he surveyed Harry up and down. Apparently satisfied with his exam he landed on Harry's shoulder, and held out a letter clenched in his talon. Harry grabbed it to find Sarah's neat script.

_Harry,_

_Dumbledore is waiting on the platform. From what I've overheard from the other parents, this is very unusual. I imagine he's here for you and me. When the train stops, don't come out. Use your mirror and go straight Below. I'll do the same here. Jareth will go with you._

_Sarah_

Harry cursed softly. Theo raised an eyebrow, and Harry passed him the letter. Theo read it quickly once, and frowned in confusion at the final two sentences. "Guess we better start getting our things together." Harry said, striving for a casual tone, he took the letter back, imagined he was holding an invisible quill, and scrawled _Dumbledore cast something on me as we were leaving, don't say anything out of the ordinary until we get to my house_. And handed it back to Theo. Both of Theo's eyebrows went up in surprise, but he nodded once.

They spent the final twenty minutes of the ride packing up quickly and silently. Jareth stayed firmly attached to Harry's shoulder while the boys moved around, making sure they had all the games they'd pulled out to play on the train ride. Theo couldn't find one of the black knights from his chess set, until they all when silent, and heard it's shouting from underneath the seat.

The sense of relief Harry felt when he spotted Sarah at the edge of the London platform was so intense that it nearly took his breath away. He waved to her out the window, and smiled when she waved frantically back. She raised an eyebrow and jerked her head back to the left, where Harry picked out the white head of Dumbledore. He rolled his eyes, and pulled the curtains shut on the window. Theo stood, looking at him curiously.

Harry pulled his mirror out of his pocket, and held it between his palms. He began spinning it in between his hands, and it grew with each revolution, until it was nearly too large for him to hold. He propped it on the bench he'd been sitting on, and placed his hand on it. Instantly the image wavered, melted and reformed to the throne room in the castle. Jareth clacked his beak, launched himself off Harry's shoulder, paused briefly to grab Hedwig's cage in his talons, and flew through the mirror to the other side.

Harry motioned to Theo, who was watching the whole thing with wide eyes. Theo picked up his trunk and moved forward, hesitantly pressing his hand against the mirror surface, eyes going a little wider when his hand slowly passed through. Harry motioned him forward again, throwing a cautious glance to the door to their compartment, where the seventh year prefects were doing a round to make sure everyone was off the train. Theo swallowed and stepped into the mirror.

Harry grabbed his own trunk, and firmly grasped the top of the mirror as he passed through, dragging both trunk and mirror through with him. He stepped into the throne room with relief. The smell of home - hot sand and violets, fireflowers, the far off stench of the bog - made his eyes burn a bit. He set his trunk down, as Jareth set Hedwig's cage down, and transformed back to himself with a whirl of glitter.

"Dad." Harry said, and was immediately embarrassed with the way his voice cracked on the word. Jareth stepped forward to sweep him into a tight hug, and Harry buried his face in his father's chest, fighting back tears of relief. Jareth's hands swept up and down his back, soothing. After a moment Harry felt a slight pinch on his back, and Jareth pulled away, frowning at whatever invisible thing he was holding. Harry pulled back too, squinting at it. He rolled his shoulders, realizing the odd sensation of the mystery spell on his back was gone.

Jareth sniffed the thing between his fingers, frowning at it, "Wizard magic is quite odd."

Harry had to laugh, even as he pulled off his robe and looked over to check on Theo, who was gazing out one of the windows with wide eyes. Harry smiled, walking over to look out at the view of the east side of the labyrinth. Stone walls and high hedgerows spiraled out from the castle grounds, interspersed with patches of forest and swamp. The east side of the labyrinth held the caves where The-Thing-With-All-The-Eyes lived as well, so the maze also held a small range of rocky hills slightly off to the left. It was an impressive view, even for Hogwarts students.

Harry grinned, and clasped Theo on the shoulder, grinning, "Welcome to the Labyrinth, and the castle of Jareth, Goblin King."

Ooooo

Sarah stepped through a mirror into the throne room ten minutes after everyone else arrived, grumbling softly and brushing soot off of her skirts. Harry laughed with pure pleasure, and ran from the window to jump into a tight hug. She grabbed him back, swinging him around in a giddy circle. "Oh, welcome home darling. I'm so happy to see you back. Jareth -" She looked up to her husband, and sighed to see him sitting cross legged in mid-air, using a large piece of curved glass to examine nothing. "What's he doing?" She asked Harry.

Harry looked up and grinned. He could, after Jareth's careful coaching, kind of see the very hazy light-blue tinted cloud that was the spell that had been cast on him at Hogwarts. "He's examining the spell that someone hit me with as we were leaving Hogwarts. He stopped responding to questions five minutes ago. But anyway, tell me what happened at the train station. Did Dumbledore figure out who you were?"

She shook her head, brushing at her skirts again, and making a face at the train soot that had stained the delicate fabric. "No. We got there a little early. Decided to take a mirror to the Muggle station bathroom instead of going right to the platform. Which was good, because he was already there. I went around the edge of the crowd, trying to stay away from him. It was pretty easy to overhear that everyone was very surprised and excited that he was on the platform. Which is how we realized that it was out of the usual for him to be there. Jareth imagined a piece of paper and a pen, so I wrote the note and sent him to you with it."

"Yeah, but what happened after you sent Jareth off? We got back ten minutes ago. What'd you do?"

Sarah shrugged, "Not much. Listened but nothing very interesting was said. He did seem to be going around to anyone he didn't know and introducing himself."

From above Jareth made a low humming sound, vanished his magnifying glass, and grasped the spell ball again. His eyes narrowed in concentration and for a few moments everything went still. Then, abruptly, the spell collapsed with a sharp crack, exploding into a shower of glitter. "Tricky things, wizards." Jareth observed, as he unfolded his legs and stepped down from midair. "It was, indeed, a tracking spell. I suspect it stopped being able to track you after you crossed dimensional lines, but it's not quite clear, it's definitely stopped now, however. Hello darling." He said to Sarah, stepping forward to wrap an arm around her, wiggling his fingers as he did so to magically clean the soot from her skirt.

"There's some kind of large hairy orange thing headed this way." Theo said, still sounding a bit shocked. He hadn't moved from the window since they'd arrived, staring at the expansive labyrinth below him.

"Ludo!" Harry exclaimed happily, instantly distracted from the conversation with his parents. He started to rush towards the window to call for his friend, but was pulled back immediately when Jareth snatched the top of his robe and dragged him back a step. Harry raised his eyebrows at his father, and tried to stop dancing from foot to foot. Now that Sarah was here, and obviously fine, with no new news, he was anxious to explore his home again and see his friends. He also wanted to show off everything he could to Theo before they left.

Sarah and Jareth traded a look, and Jareth sighed and released him. "The three of us will have a discussion after dinner. Don't wear yourself out too much. Go play with your friends."

Harry grinned at him, and raced off to grab Theo's arm, dragging him away from the window and towards the entrance to the labyrinth where Ludo was just plodding up.

Oooooo

The two boys spent the rest of the day exploring the labyrinth. Harry only lost Theo twice, and found him each time after only about twenty minutes. Harry took them through the first level of the labyrinth to the goblin village, where he was immediately overwhelmed by a cheering crowd of his goblin subjects. It took the better part of two hours to calm them down and by the time they set out again Theo had finally lost the shocked disbelieving look that he'd worn since landing Below.

They had just found Sir Didymus when Sarah's amplified voice echoed over the labyrinth "Harry, it's nearly dinner. Bring your friend on back."

It took Harry a bit longer to get back with Theo than it would have alone, but he was so excited to be home that he didn't even care. The two boys nearly tumbled into the dining room, giggling about the curses one of the rock movers had been shouting at them as they'd run. Sarah smiled at them fondly.

"Alright boys, come on over. Harry we've got all your favorites. Your father will be a few minutes, one of the aqueducts on the south plane collapsed. Theo, if you don't like this food let me know and I'll get you some stuff from Above."

Theo nodded politely, clearing his throat to get rid of the last of his giggles as he took the seat next to Harry, "Thank you ma'am."

"Oh, please call me Sarah. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself before Harry dragged you off," Harry grinned innocently around a crunchy bite of bogroot. "I've heard a lot about you though, from Harry's letters. I'm sure you have quite a lot of questions."

Theo hesitated for only a moment. "What exactly is this place? Harry just said it was below…"

Sarah smiled kindly, "It is Below. The dimension below the one we were born on. You know what dimensions are I trust?"

Theo nodded hesitantly as he sniffed something that looked like a sausage. It smelled like carrots. He put it back in favor of the chicken. "Like different worlds right? On Samhain they talk about the veil between worlds being thin. So this is one of those worlds?"

Sarah nodded, "In simple terms, yes. There are many dimensions. This is Jareth's. Harry's father. We call it Below, with a capital B."

Theo nodded, decided he liked the chicken even if it was very spicy, and took another serving. "How did Harry end up here with the two of you?"

Sarah laughed, kindly, "Well he actually got here before I did. There are words that can pierce the - the veil you spoke of - one is an honest request for the goblins to come take away a child. Harry was placed with relatives who were not fond of him, so they used the words to send him Below. Jareth adopted him as his son and heir. I came along a few years later. That's rather a longer story."

The doors at the back of the dining room burst open and crashed hard against the walls, the sound echoing loudly through the room. Jareth entered, looking faintly annoyed. "They shot it down! Again!" He collapsed dramatically in his chair at the head of the table, "They were practicing for the next time a runner came around their way. Runners haven't used the south entrance for years!"

"Maybe that's why they do it then." Jareth paused and looked over to Harry, who expounded on his point without being prompted. "I mean, you never go down to the southern plane, runners never go over there. I don't think Mom has ever even been there, and I've only gone twice. They're probably lonely. And bored."

Jareth hummed thoughtfully, and then smiled widely, "Oh, my boy, I have missed your insights."

Ooooo

Theo started yawning halfway through pudding. Harry took the cue from Sarah to pull him from the table, leading him to a set of rooms right next to Harry's suite. Someone had already brought Theo's trunk and bookbag and set them in the bedroom. Harry quickly showed him the bathroom and the pull cord that would call a goblin if he needed anything. He warned him that that should probably be a last resort as the goblins, well enthusiastic, were not the smartest servants in the world. After making sure his friend didn't need anything else Harry headed back to the throne room, where his parents were waiting.

"Oh good." Jareth said, and flicked his wrist. Instantly the seven mirrors around the room lit up.

One showed Albus Dumbledore, who was sitting at his desk, eyes hard and angry, various magical instruments scattered over the surface of the desk. Another showed Professor Snape, who was working in the dungeon over a cauldron, with a very old book hovering close enough for him to read. The third showed the hazy image of Professor Quirrell, who was asleep in his chambers, turban still on his head. The fourth was a slightly nauseating image of Harry himself in this exact room, looking at the image of himself in the mirror, looking at the image of himself, looking at the image of himself, until the Harrys in the mirror got too small to see. He turned his back on that one. The fifth was the room with the cerebus, while the sixth was an expansive hall filled with shelves of dusty glass balls. The seventh was dark.

"I think we can probably turn off the one tracking Harry my dear. It's making me a bit sick." Sarah said, as she swept her skirts forward to take a seat in her throne.

Jareth snapped his fingers and the mirror with Harry's image went dark. Harry breathed out a sigh of relief. "So," he asked, peering at Dumbledore's still image, "What's happened?"

Jareth snorted, an offended noise, "Nothing with him. He doesn't speak of his plans to anyone, and none of the notes he takes follow any logic. Spying on him is as helpful as spying on a brick wall." He gestured towards the image of Quirrell. "Certainly nowhere near as fascinating as this man. Who has long, terrified conversations with no one, in which he never says anything of value. But it is clear that whoever he is speaking to is charging him with the task of stealing that stone. Also, I've remembered why the image is hazy."

Harry was surprised, and turned to face Jareth, expecting a look of smug accomplishment. Instead his father was looking at him with concern clear in his multi-colored eyes. Harry swallowed a feeling of intense foreboding. "Why?"

"Soul magic, possession to be exact. Extremely familiar soul magic in this case."

The amazing dinner Harry had just eaten curdled in his stomach. His hand went up automatically to brush the fake scar that Jareth had put back on him that summer. "Like the soul that was in me?"

Jareth nodded once, spinning a crystal ball in his fingers, looking disconcerted. "Exactly like in fact. It's the same soul. Only a larger piece is in Quirrell than was ever in you. It's clear now that Voldemort, before he went after you, split his soul into an unknown number of pieces. Soul magic like that is the darkest side of magic. It requires rituals that would make you sick to your stomach." Silence reigned for a few minutes, as three more crystals appeared on Jareth's hands and he sent them spinning. "As you remember, I first discovered the soul surviving in your scar when you were about five years old and first wandered away into the labyrinth."

Harry nodded. He remembered the story, but it was one of those ones where he wasn't sure if it was a real memory or just something made up from hearing the same story over and over. Harry had wandered off into the labyrinth, Jareth had called up a mirror to figure out where he'd run off too, and Harry's hazy image had revealed that something was wrong with the young boy.

A month of Jareth's tests and experiments had revealed that Harry's scar held a fraction of a dark soul. Another six months passed before Jareth had been able to find a way to extract the soul fraction into one of his crystals. He'd then shattered the crystal with a basilisk fang, killing the soul inside.

When Harry looked back on that time he could remember most strongly the sense of anxiety that had flooded the kingdom. For the seven months that Jareth had been researching he hadn't been Harry's fun loving magical father - he'd been tense and terse, prone to rages when the goblins made their usual mistakes or got in the way. Harry didn't remember singing a single note together for that entire long stretch of time. He remembered one late dark night, in bed, faintly hearing Jareth ranting to one of the goblins, who'd dropped something, and having a sudden overwhelming realization that Jareth was afraid. Jareth, his all powerful father, afraid of something about _him_.

That was the worst night Harry had ever had.

All of this was rather beside the point though. And Harry's brain moved quickly to make connections between what Jareth had said. Talking to himself. Possessed. A larger portion of soul. "It's the driving force of the soul inside him, isn't it? That's why he's talking to himself. Lord Voldemort is at Hogwarts, brought in by a willing host."

"We don't know he was willing." Sarah's soft voice soothed the tension in Harry's shoulders, and he had the sudden urge to go sit at her feet, as he often had when he'd been nine and she'd first returned to them.

Harry shook his head, and waved his arm to bring his throne closer so he could sit and still see all the mirrors as well as his parents. "No. He'd have to be willing to get passed the wards on the castle. It's listed in one of the books I found in the library." He curled his feet under him, feeling abruptly cold. "Could you still remove it, like you did for me?"

Jareth rolled a crystal across his shoulders, considering the question, "This piece of soul, the driving source as you said, seems to be a lot more conscious of it's surroundings, based on the conversations Quirrell has had with it. We would need a lot of luck and strong magic to trap it in Quirrell's body long enough to force it down here, and then keep it still for however long the procedure takes. If the soul piece escaped down here all of our subjects would be in the most grave danger. A malevolent spirit with this much power could overwhelm the will of a goblin quite easily."

Harry stared at the blurry image of Quirrell sleeping, trying to think through all of their options. "You would have to do the ritual here?"

Jareth steepled his fingers under his chin, "My powers are severely weakened Above. Unless I was specifically invited into someone's home where Quirrell was already waiting, I doubt I would have enough power to force the spirit into a crystal."

"What if I called you to Hogwarts and we did the ritual together?" Harry asked.

Jareth went still, and the clear twilight sky out the window instantly darkened as thunderclouds rolled in. Thunder rumbled threateningly though no rain fell. Sarah straightened slightly, tossing a concerned look to her husband. "That is entirely out of the question." Jareth said, voice clipped and precise, his eyes flashing with anger. "You are never to be in a room with this man ever again."

Harry felt a swoop of something in his stomach, as he finally realized why Jareth had started this entire conversation. He looked to Sarah, who wouldn't meet his eyes, fussing instead with the hem of her sleeve. "That's going to be hard. He's my professor. I have class with him three times a week."

Thunder rumbled again, and a flash of lightning nearly blinded Harry as it caught all seven mirrors around the room.

"That will not be a problem." Jareth said, and the furious worry in his voice was readily apparent, "You will not be returning to Hogwarts."

Ooooooo

A/n; Sorry this update took so long guys! I had the hardest time figuring out where I wanted to go with this story, and I finally got inspired just this last week. Updates should be coming faster now that I know where this story is going.


	13. Idea

Silence rang in the throne room after Jareth's pronouncement.

Harry felt like he'd swallowed a brick. His throat was rough and prickling and something heavy and awful was sitting in his stomach. Outside the storm of Jareth's temper was still waiting, clouds dark and threatening though the thunder had died off.

Harry looked to Sarah again. She was no longer staring at the sleeve of her dress, instead she was looking out the window to the storm clouds, her face blank. Harry pressed his lips together, "Mom?"

Jareth looked to his wife. The silence in the room seemed to practically echo as they waited to see what she would say.

Finally she blew out a long breath and sat back in her throne, "I agree with your father honey, I'm sorry. It's just too dangerous. We can't send an eleven year old child against this kind of evil."

"I'm not -" Harry started hotly.

"You are." Jareth interrupted him. "You are a child. You are smart and capable and I trust you implicitly. But you are still a child. You should not be facing off against your parents' murderer!" A faint far off rumble of thunder punctuated this sentence.

Harry swallowed back the lump that was growing in his throat. Crying would not help him prove that he was an adult. Maybe the truth would. "I'm terrified of facing him." Harry admitted. "I don't want to go anywhere near him. But I want to go back to Hogwarts. I want to learn how to use the magic that my parents gave me. I want to help make sure that Voldemort will pay for his crimes. I want to know what Dumbledore is up to and make sure that he can never come after me. And I want to repair the reputation of my subjects in the world Above."

Jareth stood, and went to the window. "I am considering calling them all back." Harry was shocked, and turned to Sarah, who had closed her eyes and was resting her forehead on one hand. "Based on what we have learned about this world in the last few months I no longer feel comfortable with my people being subjected to these ... _wizards_."

The way Jareth said 'wizards' was disgusted, and Harry felt the casual insult of it like a slap. He swallowed again, "Dad, _I'm_ a wizard. We're not all like," he waved a hand to Dumbledore and Quirrell's mirrors, "that. In fact, I have friends up there! Theo and Neville and even Professor Snape! I don't want to never see them again!"

"Not never." Sarah said, sitting up, "Not never Harry. We're not putting you in jail. Are we Jareth?" She asked, pointedly. Harry was suddenly sure that they'd had this conversation before, and that this had been the sticking point.

He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, and planting his face in his hands. He could use that, somehow. But he was exhausted. Right now all he wanted to do was collapse into his bed, close his eyes, and fall unconscious until all of these problems dealt with themselves.

"Of course not." Jareth answered Sarah. "You can continue to live the same life you did before this summer. Help me with runners and the goblin villages. I'll teach you goblin magic and mirror magic. You can continue to practice whatever you've learned so far of wizard magic. But you will stay in my realm. Where it's safe."

Sarah sighed softly, "Darling, you know that no place is perfectly safe. It is safer here, obviously, but don't act like that's a guarantee."

Harry realized that Sarah wasn't totally sold on the idea of keeping him home. If he did want to go back to Hogwarts _(did he really?)_ she was the one he had a better chance of convincing. Jareth didn't acknowledge her statement, and Harry decided to turn the conversation on its head until he had a chance to figure out what he really wanted. "What's that room?" He asked, pointing to the mirror that showed the large room filled with shelves of dusty glass balls.

Jareth turned from the window to see what he was pointing at. "A room in the Ministry. It's the prophecy chamber. The wizards know only the very first level of glass magic, and they use it to store the memories of prophecies. I was trying to find out what information the ministry had on your guardianship, but found this instead. I can feel something there that concerns you."

Harry raised his eyebrows, and stood. "We should go view whatever it is."

Jareth made a small sound of annoyance, but Sarah was already nodding. All three of them knew of the power of prophecy. If Jareth's decision to keep Harry Below threatened the magic of a prophecy, fate would respond violently. Whenever people moved to avoid a prophecy their actions would only serve to fulfill it. If there was a prophecy regarding Harry they needed to know about it before anything was decided for certain.

"What time is it?" Sarah asked, glancing at her bare wrist. "I haven't seen a wizard walk past in quite a while."

"It's just after 11." Jareth said, with his instinctual knowledge of the passage of time. He moved to the mirror and placed his hand on it, concentrating, "I don't sense and wizards in the room."

Harry bit back a yawn and Sarah looked at him with concern, "We can do this tomorrow if you'd like to sleep."

He shook his head empathetically. Although he was exhausted, he wanted to know all he could before heading off to sleep.

The three of them stepped forward and through the mirror, Jareth shuddered slightly as he left his world and stepped into Above, where his powers were severely limited. Typically he maintained his owl form Above, Harry figured he was staying as he was to prove some kind of point.

The hall was even larger than it had looked in the mirror. Shelves stretched for what seemed like miles in both directions. Sarah hummed thoughtfully, "Well, come on feet." And started off towards the only wall they could see. Harry and Jareth followed behind her, Jareth's forehead creased slightly with the effort it took to maintain his human shape in a realm he had not been invited into.

Jareth studied the balls as they walked, and announced, after a few minutes, that they should all make an effort not to touch any of the prophecies, as there was powerful wizard magic on them. They were a bit more careful to stick to the center of the aisles as they continued walking after that announcement.

They made it to the wall, which, luckily enough, turned out to be the front of the hall. They followed it to a door, and in front of the door was a podium which held a large book. Sarah flipped it open only to find it blank. She frowned. Jareth came forward to poke at it, and Harry did the same on the other side.

"Some kind of wizard searching spell." Jareth decided after a moment. His voice was a bit tense with stress. Sarah looked at him with concern but seemed to decide that it wasn't her problem if Jareth was bound and determined to act like an idiot.

Harry dug his wand out of his pocket and tapped the front of the book, remembering the special dictionary that Madame Pince had shown him, "Prophecies concerning Harry Potter, Goblin Prince."

The book shivered, and then flipped open. A few pages fluttered by before it stopped. Golden letters began to appear on the newly revealed page, the first was _C. P. T. to R. J. T. Goblin Prince_ _Row 12_ the second was _S. P. T. to A. P. W. B. D. Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter Row 97_.

They set off to row 12 immediately after wiping their search from the book. Then split up to go down either side of it, looking for the glass bulb that was labeled with Harry's title. Jareth found it, and immediately created his own crystal, his face twitching only slightly with the effort. He tapped the two glass bulbs together to copy the prophecy, without touching the original himself, and they set off again to row 97.

Usually there would have been conversation between the three of them on a walk like this. Or a song, at the very least. But the tension of the argument that was still unresolved hung between the three of them like a cloud (luckily not literally, as Jareth seemingly had his temper under control). Plus, Harry thought, it was probably better if they weren't too loud while in a ministry room that they were not supposed to be in. Sarah found this ball, and pointed at it so Jareth could float up to it and click another crystal against it to create another copy.

Finished, Sarah pulled a mirror from her pocket, and they all passed through back to the throne room.

Without Jareth's temper to power it, the thunderstorm they'd left had died off. Now there was only the moon and a bright canopy of stars visible through the window. Jareth waved a hand to relight the torches on the walls, brightening the room considerably as he took his seat, pulling the two crystals from midair as he did so. He placed them on a small table he pulled forth in front of his chair, and tapped the first one decisively.

The hazy image of an old woman wearing very old fashioned clothing appeared above the crystal. Her voice was smooth and melodic, and she spoke the prophecy with a kind of casual ease.

"In the year of the Golden Rooster, an orphan wizard child will be sent to the Goblin realm.

No one will come for him, and the Goblins will adopt him as their own, the Goblin Prince.

A child of two worlds the Prince will be faced with many challenges.

If he lives fast he will succeed.

He will hold his wand in one hand and the power of glass in the other.

He will save his people from the lies that bind them.

He will save the wizards from the dark that threatens.

If he lives slow he will fail.

He will lose his wand in the Dark, and the glass will shatter.

His people will be bound to serve harsh masters.

The wizards will fall to the dark."

The silence that fell after this prophecy nearly rang. Jareth hesitated only slightly before tapping the second crystal.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him … born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."

All three of them stared as the second woman slipped back into her crystal. Harry opened his mouth with no idea what to say, and closed it after a minute.

Sarah finally stood, "I don't know about the two of you, but I have a headache. Bed I think. We can think about this and discuss it over the next two weeks. No decisions need to be made until it is actually time for Harry to go back."

Jareth grumbled something under his breath, but did as Sarah said, heading off to their rooms. Harry followed after them, turning over the words of the prophecies as he got ready for bed. It felt like a riddle. He loved riddles.

Once he collapsed into his bed however, he pushed the prophecies aside and began trying to answer the question that he'd been turning over since Jareth had first brought up the issue. Did he really even want to go back to Hogwarts?

Oooooo

The next morning Harry didn't have any answers, not about Hogwarts, nor the prophecies. He did have a pounding headache. When Theo came into the room to head down to breakfast he gave him a concerned look.

Harry pinched his nose, "Morning. How'd you sleep?"

Theo raised his eyebrows, "Better than you apparently. You look like crap."

Harry had to laugh, "Thanks. I'm fine. It's just a headache. You mind sticking to the castle this morning?"

Theo nodded, "Sure. We can get started on our homework."

Harry considered it, and just nodded. He didn't see any point to telling Theo about what was going on until a final decision was made. And as far as Harry was concerned, no such decision had been made yet, no matter what Jareth said.

After a delicious breakfast cabbage, which Harry had a goblin bring to him while his head continued to pound, they started on their transfiguration essays. They were supposed to be writing an essay on the three different schools of thought on how to focus on a transfiguration. Harry, though skilled in the practical work of transfiguration, struggled a little with the theoretical. He and Theo worked closely together on figuring out what they should talk about in their essay.

After lunch Harry was feeling a bit better, but didn't feel up to heading out into the maze. Instead he decided to show Theo some of the amazing rooms in the castle like the stair chamber, which was made entirely of stairs, the gravity dome, which had no gravity, and the time vault, which held all of the clocks from all the different realms that Jareth had traveled to. Below's giant 13-hour clock hung next to an old grandfather clock from Above. After that was a glittering delicate thing made of impossibly thin tree bark, from the Elf Realm. Next to that was a small clock woven out of grass, with tiny flowers marking the hours instead of numbers from the Fairy Realm.

Harry explained that 'Above' and 'Below' were really nicknames. 'Above' was also called 'The Human Realm' while 'Below' was usually 'The Goblin Realm'. But Jareth didn't like being called the Goblin Realm, since there were obviously more people than just the goblins living here, so he insisted that everyone call his realm 'Below'.

Theo's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, "So he doesn't like it being called the Goblin Realm, but he's okay with being the Goblin King? And he named you the Goblin Prince!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Don't go looking at Jareth to make sense. He decides things on a whim, and then changes his mind a decade later. He's … unpredictable."

Theo snorted in agreement, and they continued down the hall. Jareth had visited a lot of realms in his long life, and the hall of clocks seemed to go on forever. Theo's favorite was the elegant seven hour stone clock from the Dwarf Realm. The numbers were elegantly carved from various crystals, while the hands were made of silver and gold, elegantly intertwined. The face was a thin polished marble with flecks of mica and other shining materials.

"They all say different times. And have different numbers on them."

Harry hummed in agreement, "Yeah. Time runs slightly differently in all of the realms." He waved to the Dwarf clock, "They've got a 21 hour day. Instead of, you know, AM and PM, they've got G, S and B for gold, silver, bronze. Gold's the morning, because that's when the sun rises, Silver is the afternoon, when it's brightest, and bronze for the night/evening, when the sun sets and it gets dark. They like minerals in the Dwarf Realm. That's mainly what they do, mine for stuff."

"Cool." Theo said. They started to walk back down the hallway towards the door again. Harry took a moment to glance at the human clock, which was steadily ticking on, while the large hands of the goblin clock shifted back a few minutes. Somewhere Jareth was rolling time back a bit for some reason.

A germ of an idea began to take root in Harry's mind.

Oooooo

After dinner Theo and Harry went back to Harry's rooms to start working on their Potions assignments. They were supposed to be writing up an essay on a potion they hadn't brewed yet. The cure for warts was very similar to the cure for boils, and they both finished the essay quicker than expected.

After their somewhat lazy day neither of them were ready for bed, but they also had no interest in doing more homework. Harry tapped his quill against the potions reference book they'd been using, trying to think of something to do.

"Wanna try this potion?"

Theo looked up from his essay and blinked twice. "We're not supposed to do magic away from Hogwarts."

Harry smiled slightly, "We're not supposed to do magic in the human realm. We're not there."

Theo raised one eyebrow, and considered the offer. "Okay."

Harry grinned, and went to his trunk, digging out his potions kit and cauldron. Without the slightly oppressive air of the potions classroom, mixing a potion was even more fun than usual, and it wasn't long before they had a mixture that was only a few shades off the description in the text. Theo was flushed with accomplishment, but Harry was frowning at the potion, looking back and forth between their result and the text. "You know…" Harry started, "I'm beginning to think that these textbooks aren't very accurate."

Theo looked at him, confused, "What?"

"We did everything exactly like it says!" Harry said, rereading the instructions to confirm, "but it's still not like it should be." He frowned at the textbook, considering each step and its logic.

Theo looked over at the book as well, but couldn't see great over Harry's shoulder, so he went back to bottling the potion they'd made. "Maybe it's just 'cause we're young. I mean, your magical core doesn't fully mature until you're 17, so maybe you can't make a completely perfect potion until then."

Harry frowned, and sighed, putting the potion down. "Well, either way that was fun. I'll bring these down to some of the goblins, they'll like it. I think I'll head to bed now."

Theo nodded, and gathered up his books, heading back to his room, "Okay, good night."

"Night." Harry said, still studying the potion in his hand. He picked up the cauldron, and brought it into the bathroom, where he stuck it under the faucet to soak. He put the vial of potion on the counter as he scrubbed out the cauldron, and kept looking at the potion, as he thought things over. The idea he'd had earlier took solid root.

The truth was, he was scared to go back. Knowing Voldemort was in his school, knowing that he was possessing Quirrell, made everything much more terrifying. On the other hand, he couldn't deny the connection he felt to that world. The magic he'd been learning up there was so interesting and he felt so at home when he used it. He wanted to be a part of that world.

On the third hand, he felt responsible for Voldemort, especially after hearing those prophecies. He knew, if he left his friends in a school with Voldemort's spirit without a word, he'd feel guilty forever. Maybe he could send a letter or something, but, knowing Dumbledore, nothing would happen.

If only he had a better grasp on his magic. If only he were older.

Struck by a thought Harry dropped the cauldron into the sink, splattering himself with slightly soapy water. He stared blankly at the wall as the idea continued to fully develop.

Abruptly he turned and headed out of his rooms, straight to the throne room where Jareth and Sarah were discussing something. They fell silent when he walked in, turning to look at him.

"I've got an idea." Harry said, beginning to get excited the more he thought of his new idea.

Jareth raised a doubtful eyebrow, but Sarah smiled at him, and Harry took a deep breath. All or nothing, "So the problem you guys have is that I'm too young to deal with the wizard problems." Sarah and Jareth traded a glance, Harry continued, "I don't have enough control over my mirror magic or enough knowledge of the wizard magic to really be effective against all of the difficulties I'd face up there. And, Sarah, you said, that once was older I could go back up there, if I wanted too."

They were both frowning slightly at him now, confused about where he was heading, but Sarah nodded again, "Of course dear, we don't want to trap you down here."

Harry waved a hand to brush that aside, "Right! So here's my idea. We completely divorce Above from Below. The time streams I mean. And then Jareth increases the rate that time passes here. By a lot. Like, two Above years for every day down here. And then, by the time winter break is over Above, I'll be an adult!" Sarah and Jareth were staring at him, but Harry was too excited to be nervous, and continued talking faster, "We can spend the time training. And having fun, of course. We can go to Diagon before separating everything and get all the books I would get over the next seven years at Hogwarts, and I can study those on my own. You can teach me about glass magic and crystals and everything. Maybe we can even get one of the Above goblins to come down here and teach me about everything about what they do, and the history of the wizarding world."

Sarah's eyes were wide with complete surprise. Jareth's face is completely unreadable. Harry hesitated slightly before saying, "It fits that first prophecy too. Living fast. Faster than the wizarding world. Do you get it?"

Sarah shifted slightly, turned to her husband, "Could you even do that? Increase the time rate that much?"

Jareth's eyes were heavy lidded as he thought, and he leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers together, "It can be done. It can go even faster than that. Could even do seven years in one Above day if you like, in one Above minute. The time streams are only matching so closely now because so many of us are going back and forth, along with all of the mirrors looking across the divide" Jareth explained, with a lazy wave around the room and it's many mirrors. "If we wanted to separate them that much we'd have to sever all those links. All the mirrors and all travel. We would have to stay in this realm for as long as we wanted time to continue to move that fast. No one could leave, and no one could come in."

"No runners." Sarah realized, Jareth shook his head.

"No going up to Diagon to get just one more book." Harry said, shifting anxiously. Jareth shook his head again.

"The realms want to be connected. It'll take power and focus to keep them separate enough to accelerate the time streams, I suspect that once I do it, it will take about a month once back in the regular time stream before the realms will allow me to separate them to that degree again. More time the faster we go."

Harry pressed his lips together, that wasn't exactly what he'd been hoping for, but it could still work. "It'll work. We don't have to return to regular time until you guys agree I'm ready to go back." Jareth was gripping the arm of his chair a bit tightly, and Sarah reached out to place her hand on top of his, "Or who knows, maybe after a few years I'll change my mind and realize I don't actually want to go back. It's the best of both worlds!"

Sarah shifted a bit, "But, once you go back, if you go back, you'll be older. How are you going to hide that from them?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm sure there are ways. Some kind of illusion spell."

"You can lock illusions in a crystal too." Jareth contributed. "So if I agree to this you won't go back until I agree that you're ready?"

Harry immediately second guessed that promise, "Well, not forever. Sarah already promised you weren't going to lock me away down here forever. Let's say - 20. Nine years will be the upper cut off. Once I turn 20 I get to decide myself, even if you say no."

Sarah threaded her fingers through Jareth's, forcing him to release his grip on his throne, "I like this idea." She said, brightly. "Everyone gets what they want."

Jareth hummed, clearly still considering, he stood, "Let me think about this. Go to bed. We'll talk about this tomorrow."

Harry smiled slightly, and did as he was told.


	14. Christmas

A/N: Lots of complaints in the comments about the age difference and how that will impact romances. Harry will be 20 when he goes back to Hogwarts, I have no intention of pairing him with any of the children in his year. I haven't even decided if I will pair Harry with anyone at all. If I do, it definitely will not be an 11 year old. Harry and Theo are friends, and will definitely not be the pairing.

Ooooo

The next morning Harry awoke excited. In the bright light of morning his idea seemed even more perfect than it had the night before. With a burst of energy he tore out of bed and into the bathroom briefly before practically skipping down the hall to Theo's room, where he took a running leap into his friend's bed.

Theo groaned and buried his head under his pillow, "_Why_?" he whined, sounding heartbroken.

"It's a beautiful day!" Harry chirped happily, splaying out next to his friend on top of the elegant purple bedspread.

"Ughhh. Go back to being sad and let me sleep."

Harry grinned up at the ceiling, and folded his hands over his stomach. "I've got so many thoughts for what we can do today." He said, using his most annoyingly cheerful voice. "Take a stroll down to the bog of eternal stench," Theo made a disgusted noise that was only half muffled by his pillow, "do our Transfig homework," Theo groaned, "convince the goblins to have a water balloon fight," Theo made a semi-interested noise, "or convince Jareth to take us to the Brownie realm and give them some milk and get a whole bunch of magic chocolate in return."

Theo's head popped up at that, "Seriously?"

"It's _amazing_." Harry enthused, waving his hands wide, "and I've got a craving. Sarah loves it too. If Jareth won't take us, she will."

Theo blinked twice, "I know it's amazing. The sell Brownie made chocolate Above. But it's insanely expensive. I've only had it once. At Draco's 8th birthday party."

"Ugh." Was Harry's opinion of that, "I thought we agreed not to mention him for the entire break. Actually, why limit it to break? Let's never mention him again, ever."

Theo snorted, lying his head back on his pillow and yawning wide, "You know he's really not that bad."

Harry made a noise of concern, reaching out to place a hand to Theo's forehead, "Oh dear, you've come down with some awful brain sickness that has completely warped your view of the world! How many fingers am I holding up?" Harry asked, waving four fingers in his face.

Theo cracked up, and started batting Harry's hands away, "Stop it! Get away!" this immediately devolved into a slap fight, which only ended when Harry was shoved all the way off the bed. He landed on the floor with a solid thump, and Theo raised his arms over his head in victory, "Winner!"

Harry was laughing too hard to get up for a few minutes. When he finally calmed down he pulled himself up, and then immediately reached out to pull Theo's blankets off the bed. Theo groaned theatrically, "Come on." Harry said, "time to get up. The faster we eat breakfast the faster we can get to magic chocolate."

Theo yawned so wide it looked like he was trying to swallow his own face, before getting up, stepping purposefully onto Harry's stomach before running into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him, giggling faintly.

Harry groaned when he was stepped on, but couldn't react fast enough to catch his evil friend. He got off the floor and dusted himself off, feeling practically buoyant. He knew, for the first time since his Hogwarts letter had arrived, that everything was going to work out alright.

Oooooo

Sarah was easily convinced to take the boys over to the Brownie Realm. They had a lot of fun. Harry came back with a picnic hamper full of chocolate and Theo had a stack of chocolate bricks precariously balanced under his chin. They stopped at their rooms first to secret it away, breaking little corners off as they did, unable to resist. Theo collapsed back onto his bed with a groan, shutting his eyes just as Harry came in. "Stomach ache?"

Theo moaned pathetically, and threw an arm dramatically over his eyes, "Leave me here to die."

Harry giggled, and opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the booming voice of his father, "Harry, I need you in the mirror room. Alone."

Harry furrowed his brow, concerned. Jareth sounded exhausted. He half shrugged at Theo, who had lifted his arm up to look over in confusion. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't wander into the labyrinth."

Theo snorted, "I'm not going to leave this bed."

Harry laughed again, and made his way to the mirror room.

Ooooo

The mirror room was directly below the throne room. The seven walls, floor and ceiling were all smooth sheets of Below mirror glass. Harry was comfortable with every room in their castle, but the mirror room always gave him an odd feeling, like static electricity, or standing outside while a thunderstorm rolled in. It made the hairs on his arms prickle, and sometimes it put him a bit on edge. He walked into the room with a grimace, shivering as goosebumps erupted all over. Jareth was hovering mid-air, cross-legged, the only thing in the room, with his eyes closed. Harry closed the heavy door behind himself, and the reflections bounced back and forth between all the mirrors into infinity.

"Dad?" Harry asked, hesitantly, after a few moments had gone by in silence.

Jareth sighed, loud and hard. He opened his eyes, and unfolded his legs, stepping down from mid-air like he was stepping out of a chair. "Is this really what you want?"

Harry hesitated. Jareth sounded and looked exhausted. His hair wasn't like it usually was, nearly flat against his skull at the top. His shoulders were drooping, like he was minutes away from falling asleep. "Are you okay?" Harry asked, instead of answering.

Jareth smiled ruefully, waving his hand around his head, which forced his hair up and out to it's usual style. "I've been delving deep. I had forgotten how exhausting that was. I may need to start an exercise regime of some sort. Ignore that, however. Answer my question."

Harry blew out a breath. He had no idea what Jareth meant by 'delving deep', and knew instinctively that asking would not get him any more information. "I know it's … extreme. But it makes sense. I can feel that it's the right thing to do." Jareth looked doubtful. Harry quickly searched for another reason, unable to really articulate why the plan felt so right. "It fits the prophecy."

Jareth snorted. "You know better than that. Trying to 'figure out' a prophecy is fool's work."

Harry tried not to fidget under his father's scrutiny. "I don't know. I don't know what you want me to say. I just know that this plan, if you think it's possible, feels right to me. It answers all of your concerns, and mine. We both get what we want."

Jareth blew out another breath, and two crystals appeared in his hands. He sent them spinning with a casual flick. "What I want is for you to be kept safe, here, forever. To never leave and never have to worry about anything." Harry didn't know what to say to that, and his mouth fell open as he groped for a response. But Jareth continued before he could get his thoughts together, "That's impossible I'm sure. If I wanted that I should never have taken a wizard child to be my heir. And I can't imagine anyone but you being my heir." Harry fought a blush, and looked down to the floor, but Jareth's proud face was reflected off the floor back up at him.

Jareth waved both of his hands out, sending the two spinning crystals flying. They stopped a hairsbreadth from the walls. They froze there for a moment, before beginning to spin, slowly but at the same rate. Jareth rolled his hands, creating two more crystals, and flung them out too, to a third and fourth wall. Jareth moved back two steps until he was in the exact center of the room. He created two more and sent them to the fifth and sixth wall, and then closed his eyes, cupped his hands in front of himself. Harry watched this with a bit of amazement. Harry couldn't yet create crystals. He could call them, have them appear from somewhere, or transfigure paper or other supplies into crystal. Harry was good at juggling them, but couldn't keep them moving when he wasn't in contact with them.

Jareth drew in a deep breath. The six crystals continued to spin, one in the center of each wall, except for the north facing wall. Suddenly Jareth flung his cupped hands out, and each crystal split into three. The top crystals drifted up to nearly touch the ceiling, while the second crystals stayed where they were. The last drifted down to hover near the floor. A slight furrow appeared in Jareth's brow, and, with a flash, images appeared in each of the spinning crystals. Harry looked over to the one that was closest to him, and saw a group of dwarfs in a mine. On his other side a group of faries stipped necter from teacups.

An enormous yellow crystal slowly collapsed into existence in front of Jareth. He reached out, cupping it carefully, as he would a flame. Almost gently he pushed it towards the empty wall. It stopped, nearly kissing its own reflection.

Jareth groaned with relief, and opened his eyes, stumbling forward a bit. "There." He said, his voice rough. "Those are the bridges to each realm. We will have to break each of them to separate this realm's time stream. I haven't manifested them in a number of decades. But they must be manifest to be broken."

Harry looked around the room, picking out images of realms he'd been to, and ones he hadn't yet seen, "It's beautiful."

Jareth blinked, looking around the room, "Yes. I suppose it is. We currently have 18 bridges anchored here. It will take me roughly an hour to remove each of them. Adding in recovery and meal breaks, and it will take two days for us to complete the process."

Harry moved around the room, looking at the steadily spinning crystals. He stopped when he found the image of Stonehenge. "When do we start?"

Jareth blew out a breath, "Sarah's holiday is in three days."

Harry had to smile, "It's called Christmas actually."

Jareth waved that off with an eyeroll, "The day after that we will go Above and collect the supplies you will need. Books and so on. We'll drop your friend off at his house, and return here to begin the process of breaking the bridges."

Harry considered this plan. "I think some of the stores may be closed the day after Christmas, so we may need another day." Jareth inclined his head in absent acknowledgement. Harry blew out a breath, "So we're really doing this?"

Jareth sighed, and then took a seat on nothing, propping his chin on his palm as he looked at his son, "Your mother is very much in favor of your mad plan. I am in favor of you not going back to Hogwarts." Jareth sighed and reached up to tug at the ends of his hair, "I'll be honest with you. I am going forward with this because I am hoping, however fruitlessly, that you will lose interest in the wizarding world as you age."

Harry's stomach twisted nervously. He considered what to say for a moment, before finally settling on, "I guess we'll see."

Jareth snorted softly, and stood again, "Your friend should go home before we start breaking bridges. I haven't done it in many decades but I faintly remember that one breaking sometimes backlashed and broke another. I'd hate to have to leave that friend of yours in some other realm."

Harry half smiled. "I'll let him know."

Ooooo

Theo had been pretty understanding when Harry had informed him that he couldn't stay after Boxing Day. Theo had written a letter home, and received a response that his parents would be expecting him on the 27th through the end of break.

Harry and Theo spent the three days before Christmas exploring the seemingly never ending adventure of the labyrinth. Twice, Harry got Sarah to bring them through to other realms to explore there as well. At night they worked together on their homework assignments.

Harry, meanwhile, and without letting Theo know, began preparing for the next nine years. He unpacked his trunk and evaluated all the books he had. He sent Hedwig through a mirror with a letter for Professor Snape, asking for a copy of the book lists for every year, and any additional recommendations. After a moment's hesitation he also asked if there were perhaps any exams from the upper years that he could use as study guides. He hoped that the Professor wouldn't ask too many questions. He wouldn't put it past the man to figure out the plan with a little more information.

Together he and Jareth wrote a letter to the Goblins at the bank, explaining what they were going to do and asking them to send a goblin with the most complete understanding of the Above world and politics, who would be willing to teach the royal family what they knew. After a moment of consideration Jareth sent a similar letter to the elves and fairies, asking them to send over some books for the training of his heir. He casually mentioned that he was reconstructing the bridges to Below and they would be down for a while.

Harry got a response from Professor Snape on the 24th. The list was two scrolls long and somehow the man had managed to _pointedly_ not ask any questions. Harry had to smile at the clear air of 'whatever crazy thing you're planning, I don't need to know'. Harry compared the list to the books he'd already purchased and crossed off the ones he already had.

Theo was also pointedly not asking any questions. He ignored the arrival of Snape's two scrolls, and didn't ask any questions about why he couldn't stay until the end of break. Harry appreciated it, because he didn't want to lie.

On Christmas Eve Sarah left to visit her human family as she always did. Jareth opened a mirror to Above and spelled it to be an open portal so that owls could come and go easily. Harry sent Hedwig out with Christmas presents for Neville and Professor Snape, and tried not to wonder about getting anything back. To distract himself he took Theo out to give some treats to the various Goblin villages around the labyrinth.

Oooooo

Sarah came back Christmas Eve, late. She stumbled through the mirror with a scowl. Harry looked up from where he and Jareth were constructing a Christmas tree with a smile. "Did you have fun with your family mom?"

Sarah's scowl lightened, and she reached out to comb her fingers through Harry's wild hair absentmindedly. "I suppose that's one way to put it. Darling do we have any-?" Sarah's question was interrupted by Jareth waving his fingers lazily, and handing her the glass that appeared. Sarah took the glass of wine with a grateful sigh, and immediately fell into her throne with another, heavy, sigh. She closed her eyes as she took a drink, and didn't reopen them.

Harry shot Jareth a concerned look. Jareth shook his head minutely, and they turned their attention back to the tree under construction. It was, of course, made entirely of glass and crystal. Harry had constructed the trunk this year out of one thick cylinder of brownish glass, Jareth was creating green shards that looked more like icicles that tree branches, in Harry's opinion. They were sticking the shards carefully around the top of the trunk to make it look like a normal tree. Neither of them fully understood what this holiday was all about, or what a tree had to do with it, but since Sarah had come they celebrated every year. Sarah had given up trying to explain about two years ago.

Jareth handed the last shard to Harry, who considered where to stick it with a squint, before picking one spot that was a little sparser than the rest, he pressed it into that spot, focusing his energy on fusing it to the trunk piece, until he felt the glass give a little, and the two pieces meld. Project done, he stepped back, grinning at their glittery creation. He bounced over to where Sarah was sitting, eyes still closed, a now nearly empty wine glass in her hand. "What do you think mom?"

Sarah's eyes cracked open, and she looked at the tree. A smile unfurled across her face, "It's gorgeous. I love it. Is it supposed to be a maple tree?"

Jareth hummed softly, looking it up and down, "We went a bit more abstract this year. It's the idea of a tree." He frowned suddenly, "Is it supposed to be a certain kind of tree?"

Sarah hid a smile by taking the last sip of wine, "No, no definitely not. It's perfect. Couldn't ask for anything better." She held out a hand and Harry took it, clambering up onto her chair with her. He rested his head against her shoulder, and her hand came up to comb gently through his hair. She sighed heavily.

Jareth glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He poked at the tree a few times, but Harry could clearly see he wanted to ask Sarah how things had gone at home. Harry decided to put him out of his misery, "How'd it go with your family mom?"

She sighed heavily again, and the fingers in his hair paused for a moment before she started gently brushing through his hair again. "Well. Let's just say it wasn't the way I wish our last meeting for the next nine years went."

Jareth scowled heavily. Harry knew from experience that Jareth didn't like Sarah's family, but that any time he'd tried to comment on it he and Sarah had gotten into intense fights. Harry knew Jareth wouldn't comment until he couldn't physically hold it in anymore, in order to avoid those fights.

Harry sighed. "You could stay with them you know."

Sarah laughed softly, and leaned over to smack a kiss to his forehead, "It'd be much worse to miss nine years of your life than have my parents miss nine years of mine. It'll be fine." She sighed again, "I just wish that my last memory of them for nine years wasn't them telling me that I'd never do anything with my life if I didn't quit my job and go to college."

Jareth muttered something under his breath and Harry spoke loudly to cover it up, "That's too bad Mom."

"Thanks honey." Sarah said. Just then, a whole wise of owls flew through the mirror portal Harry had left open in the corner of the room. Harry jumped up with a squeal of delight, taking the various packages from the owls. Some were for Theo, and Harry placed them under the tree for the morning, and started looking at the ones that were for him. There was one from Neville, and one from each of his Slytherin dorm mates. There was also a package with no kind of tag on it at all. He frowned at it, turning it over in his hands, trying to see if the tag had maybe fallen off or if there was writing on the package itself.

Jareth pulled it out of his hands abruptly, frowning at it. "What is this?"

Harry raised his eyebrows, "I have no idea." He looked around, but the owl that had dropped it had already vanished back through the mirror.

"This is ancient, powerful magic." Jareth was frowning heavily, and carefully opened the package, practically shivering as he pulled out a silvery cloak. He dropped the packaging, focusing completely on the cloak. "My word."

A piece of paper fluttered out and Harry grabbed it. In fine elegant script the note said, _This belonged to your father. Blachl adfbafadfb lkdnvlaksndv Use it well._

Harry felt the tingle in his fingers that signaled a spell on the paper. He frowned, and dropped it. "There's a note with a spell on it Dad."

Jareth's head snapped up and he stuck his hand out, the note flew off the floor to snap into his hand. He rubbed it between his fingers like someone checking the validity of a gold coin. With a sharp jerk he pinched his fingers together and tugged a light blue shimmer off the page. Harry had to squint to see it, but it was definitely there.

Jareth frowned at it, "Another tracking spell. That man will never give up."

Harry's eyebrows went up, "Dumbledore again?"

Jareth's snort was answer enough, and he walked over to the mirror, still pinching the tracking spell between his fingers. He stuck his hand through the mirror. The image rippled like a pool of water, and then settled when Jareth pulled his hand free again, now without the spell. He dusted his hands together, and glanced back at the cloak. "That thing reeks of Death."

Harry blinked, looking down at it. He took a hesitant step away from it, "Like death?"

Jareth smiled at him, and leaned down to grab the thing, "Not like the state of dying. Like the entity of Death itself. I wonder how your wily headmaster got his hands on something that belongs to Death? It's a notorious hoarder."

Harry shrugged, "He said it belonged to James Potter."

Jareth's eyebrows went up, and then he looked at the note in his hands, which, distracted by the spell, he hadn't actually read before. "Hmmm. Well, if we assume that that's true, it only opens more questions."

Harry resisted the urge to sigh heavily.

Oooooo

Christmas morning dawned bright and crisp below. Theo gave the glass tree an odd look, but seemed happy enough with the presents underneath it. He especially enjoyed the gift from Harry, a selection of Brownie chocolate, Fairy nectar, and Dwarf smithed silver. All extremely rare Above, and correspondingly expensive, but easy to get Below.

Theo had gotten Harry a journal which could be blood-warded so that no one but Harry could ever read what he'd written. Sarah gave Harry some new outfits, and Jareth had given him a large purple shaded crystal, which he said he'd learn about in a few days. His dorm mates had given him various books and Neville had given him a box of chocolate frogs.

Once the presents were opened Sarah made them all large glasses of hot chocolate and french toast. They ate slowly while telling stories, laughing and enjoying the day.

Ooooo

On the 27th Sarah, Jareth, Harry and Theo headed up to Diagon Alley. Theo met his mother, a tall thin blonde woman who just nodded at them from across the alley while Theo made his way over to her.

The three of them spent the rest of the day shopping for everything they could think Harry would need from the wizarding world for the next nine years. At the bookstore they had to take three separate trips out to a side alley to transport bags of books through a mirror.

They also spent a while at the bank, the only place where Jareth shed his owl form. The above goblins were practically having fits trying to decide which goblin would go back down Below to help teach Harry what they knew. Jareth overcame the drama by first turning away any goblins with families, not wanting to separate anyone from their children for nine years, and then questioning them on basic facts of Above history, turning aside any who didn't know or couldn't answer, until there was one left, Ragnok, the goblin who ran the bank. Jareth then told him to come Below as soon as he'd packed what he would need for the next nine years.

That decided, the little family of three went back out to the Alley, and continued their shopping spree. They were nearly done when a small black owl flew down and landed on his shoulder. Harry took the letter from the owl and read it quickly. It was from Professor Snape. It told him that Dumbledore had gotten a hit from one of his tracking spells in a remote part of Scotland, and had immediately gone off to see what he could find out. Harry smirked and turned the letter into a crystal with a flick of his wrist, and then stuck it in his pocket.

"Dumbledore went after that spell fragment you dropped through the mirror." Harry said to Jareth, who was in owl form on Sarah's shoulder. Jareth made a self satisfied chirping sound, and, if an owl could be said to smirk, he was definitely smirking.

Harry snorted in amusement, and they ducked into yet another store.

Ooooo

Back home, in the mirror room in the castle, the three of them sat in a loose triangle arranged around the center of the room. "Alright." Jareth said, looking at both of them, "We have absolutely everything you need, correct?"

Harry looked at the list he'd been working off of. It was a little tattered now, with how many times he'd pulled it from his pocket, crossed something off or edited something, and refolded it and pocketed it again. He slowly went down the entire list one last time, before nodding once. "I'm all set."

Sarah smiled softly, "And I am prepared as well."

Jareth squinted at her, "Are you sure you don't want to have one last meal with your family?"

Sarah just shook her head wordlessly, and Jareth sighed in acceptance. "Well then, Harry, come sit in front of me and close your eyes. I am going to begin collecting the power to close the bridges. Try to follow what I'm doing."

The two of them sat together, knee to knee, and began the long process of separating out their time stream.

Ooooo


End file.
